The Marauder Story
by Zetta
Summary: Beginning with First Year and ending with Seventh, follow James and the rest on their journey through Hogwarts. Complete! Pre OotP!
1. The First Years

The Marauder Story 

By Zetta Zofia

Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine!  Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.

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Chapter One- The First Years 

James Potter fell in love before he'd even set foot in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Her name was Lily Rose Evans, and she was from a Muggle family.  She had red hair, green eyes, and pale skin, and he met her right outside of Platform 9 and ¾, she standing with her family, and he waiting alone.

He'd been waiting for his best friend Sirius to get there.  His parents had gone inside with his trunk and cat after they made sure he knew how to get to the platform, and now he was free from their strict supervision, and soon would be free for even longer.

He used the time wisely, plotting how to get Sirius to eat a Cockroach Cluster and an Acid pop.  His dad had taken him to Diagon Alley a week before, and had bought him a whole bag of candy and a bunch of other neat things.  His favorite was the new racing broom, though he couldn't bring it to school.  There was a stupid rule about first years not being allowed to ride brooms, and he and Sirius had spent a lot of time complaining about it over the past summer, ever since they'd gotten their letters.

But all that was put aside for the moment.  He noticed her as soon as she and her family came around to the platform.  It was all he could do not to stare at her, she was so pretty.  She had both of her parents and a sister, and her cart was loaded with her trunk and a bowl with a little frog in it, and some water.

She wore Muggle clothes, a sweater that matched her eyes, and a black skirt, and was looking around with unease on her pretty face.  "I don't see it," she said, and James decided he liked her voice.  It was soft and pretty.

"Well," her father said, looking a little worried.  "It's got to be here somewhere.  If that Alley was really there, I can't imagine that the platform won't be."

Her sister, a pencil thin girl with curly blond hair, made a face.  "I bet it's all just a big joke.  And whoever did it is laughing at you right now.  Honestly, I can't believe you're encouraging her to believe this rubbish, mother."

James decided he didn't like her sister very much.

Before he could go over and tell them where the platform was, there was a loud crash behind them.

The girl and her family all turned to look, as did most of the train station and even some of the people who were already on the trains.

James looked and grinned.  A dark haired boy had crashed his cart into a bench, narrowly missing a group of people.  His owl, who was in a cage on top of the cart, hooted painfully, flapping its wings.

"Sorry!" the boy said, and continued to push the cart down to the platform.  He saw James and grinned widely.  "Potter!" he said, and they slapped each other on the back, much like their fathers did every time they met.  Then the boy reached in his pocket at the same time as James, and they both looked at each other eagerly.

"I've got something for you," they both said at the same time, then looked disappointed as they each held the same thing, a bunch of candy that would have been anything but nice.

But then they grinned at each other again.  "Maybe Peter's hungry," Sirius suggested, and James nodded, agreeing.

"Are your parents here?" James asked, looking around for the Blacks.  "Mum and Dad were looking for them.  They wanted to ask about you coming over this summer."

Sirius shrugged.  "They're somewhere.  I thought they were right behind me, but then Athena saw something in one of the Muggle stores, and I might have left them there.  Accidentally, of course."  He grinned.  "Oops."

"Mine are already inside," James said.  "They took my stuff in too."

The girl he'd noticed early finally approached him, looking somewhat shy, and quite nervous.  "Excuse me," she said, standing a careful distance away from them.  "But, are you going to Hogwarts?"

Sirius beamed at her.  "Nope.  I'm going to, uh, Straw-goh."  He had to think for a minute before he could figure out how to say Hogwarts backwards, but once he had it, he beamed.  "It's in, er, uh, D-nal-tocs."

"To where?" Lily asked, looking puzzled.

James rolled his eyes.  "He's just talking backwards.  Ignore him, or you'll hurt yourself trying to follow his logic, because he really doesn't have any.  Yes, we are going to Hogwarts."

Her family was watching them too, and all but the sister looked relieved to hear that.  "Oh good," she said, smiling.  "I'm afraid I can't find the platform, and I don't want to miss the train."

"We'll help you," James said.  

 "I'm James," Sirius said.  "This is my friend, Sirius."

James scowled.  "Like I said.  Don't listen to him.  I'm James.  He's Sirius."

The girl grinned back.  "I'm Petunia.  She's Lily."  She was obviously lying, for her sister's glare nearly burnt holes through her back. 

James had to smile at her.  A lot of girls would have started crying when Sirius did that stupid name-switching thing, but not this girl.  Her eyes were sparkling and she looked ready to laugh at them.  He decided he really liked her.  "Nice to meet you Petunia-Lily."

Sirius nodded enthusiastically.  "Me and him are first years too.  I'm going to be in Gryffindor, and so his he.  Our other friend, Peter, might be in Hufflepuff, but we hope he's in Gryffindor too."

James snickered.  "Hufflepuff is a stupid house, but it's better than Slytherin."

"I want to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," Lily said.  "But anything's good, as long as it's not Slytherin."  Lily's mother coughed politely, and Lily turned.  "Oh yeah.  This is my mum, Rose Evans, and my dad, David Evans.  I don't know her name for sure, but this is my sister.  She might be Petunia or Lily, depending on who you are."

Sirius scowled.  "James already told you our names, so she has to be Petunia."

"Like I'd ever want to be Lily anyway," Petunia said huffily.

"Well I wouldn't want to be Petunia, either," Lily said, but looked a little hurt.

James frowned, and then remembered what was in his hands.  "Want some candy, Petunia?"

Sirius snickered, but the girl didn't seem to notice.  "Not unless it's real candy, and I don't think your kind even has that."  She turned and leaned on the post that led to ten.

Lily looked a little embarrassed, so James decided to change the subject.  "You should say goodbye to your parents out here.  Sometimes Muggles have a hard time getting back out once their inside the platform, and you're probably not on the Floo line, so they can't just Floo back."

Lily stared at him, confused, then shrugged.  "Okay."  She turned around and hugged her mother, who was crying, then her father, who looked quite sad.  "I'll write as soon as I can," she promised.  

Her mother sniffed.  "Oh, Lily, are you sure you want to go?"

Lily sent her a patient look, one James recognized.  He'd just give his parents the same look a few minutes ago, when his mother had started blubbering on about how much she'd miss him.  James hid a smile in response to Lily's obvious exasperation, and noticed that Sirius was rolling his eyes as well.  They exchanged an amused look.  Parents.  Who could ever figure them out?

"Write to us if you need anything," her father said.  "We'll, er, owl it to you."

"Bye!" Lily said, a little too eager to see them gone.

The three waited for them to round the corner, and then they looked at each other.

"Let's go in," James said.

"Where is it?" Lily asked, frowning at them.  "We looked all over for it."

"Right here," James said, pointing to the post.  "You just gotta walk through it."

Lily gave him a disbelieving look, and crossed her arms.  "I don't like getting made fun of," she said.  "I'm not stupid enough to believe that."

Sirius rolled his eyes.  "Girls," he said with a sigh.  "Honestly.  If we were making fun of you or some such, we'd have told you to get on the wrong train or something like that that would have actually been funny.  Or maybe we'd have sent you through the wrong post."  He tilted his head to the side, considering that.  "We'll have to try that next year, James.  I'll meet you on the platform."  And he glanced around, then pushed his cart through the post.

Lily's eyes widened as Sirius disappeared, and her mouth dropped open a good bit.

James gestured towards the post.  "After you," he said.  "You should run at it if you're scared."

She lifted her chin and walked into the post, though once he couldn't see her face, she was wincing, just knowing that it was all some sort of joke.

She came out on the other side, on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Sirius was already talking with another boy their age, and Lily walked forward a little, her eyes trying to take in everything.

"You want to sit with us?" James asked from behind her.  

He didn't look as though he thought walking through walls was anything abnormal, so Lily tried her best to hide her amazement.  She smiled.  "Okay."

Sirius didn't look surprised to see her with James, but flashed her a friendly smile as the other boy who'd been with them went off.  "Put your trunk up here," he said, and helped her get it up.  His eyes widened when he realized how heavy it was.  "Haven't you ever heard of feather weight spells?"

They pushed it in.  "I've heard of them," Lily said.  "And I tried to do it earlier, but I couldn't get it to work right.  It made my mum's favorite perfume bottle explode all over."

Sirius nodded sadly.  "That happened to me once.  Mum almost killed me."

Lily grinned mischievously.  "Well, my mum doesn't know yet."

Sirius hooted with laughter, and James smiled at her.  "We'll sit in here," he decided, pulling the door to the last compartment open.  There was a boy already in there, and he looked up as they opened the door.  He was tall, pale, and tired looking, and his robes were frayed a bit.  There was an old gray cat on his lap, and the cat looked up as they entered, but made no move towards them.

"Can we sit here with you?" James asked politely.

The boy nodded and moved his book off the seat next to him.  "Go ahead," he said, and it came out very quietly.

"I'm James Potter, this is Sirius Black, and this is Lily Evans," James said, taking a seat across from him.  "Who are you?"

"I'm Remus," he said.  "Remus Lupin."

"Here's Peter," Sirius said, leaning out the door.  "He can fit in here too, I guess."  

"I just met them," Lily informed Remus.  "As near as I can say, Sirius is a bit odd, and James is very nice.  I don't know who Peter is, but Sirius said he might end up in Hufflepuff."

Sirius grinned.  "That I am, and that I did."

James shrugged in his response to her comments about him.  She thought he was nice?  He wanted to grin at her, so he did.  He thought she was nice too.  "I just felt bad for you," he said.  "Being Muggle-born and all that.  I'll be mean to you soon, I'm sure."  He grinned at her.  "After all, you'll be an easy target."

Remus tilted his head.  "You aren't against Muggle-borns, are you?"

James shook his head, offended that someone would even think that of him.  "'Course not.  Sirius is half Muggle."

Sirius grinned.  "And half magic, of course.  But my mum thinks that I'm more magic than that, with all the trouble I get into."

"Hi," another boy said.  He climbed up into the compartment.  He was short, round, and had a head full of blond and brown hair.  "Who're you?" he asked, looking at Lily and Remus.

"That's Remus, and that's Lily," Sirius said.  "This is Peter.  He's the one who should be in Hufflepuff."

"I should not," Peter said, frowning at him.  "I'm going to be in Gryffindor."

Sirius rolled his eyes.  "Want some candy?"

Peter backed away from him immediately.  "Not from you I don't!"

James snickered and moved over so Peter could sit on his right side.  "Last time Sirius gave him candy, it burned a hole in his tongue and made him start to float away."

Sirius sighed sadly.  "But then my mum got him down and yelled at me.  But it was funny when it happened!"

"Do you have one more seat?" a soft voice asked.

They all looked and saw a girl there, short and blond and very nervous.

Lily smiled.  "Hi! I'm Lily.  This is James, and Sirius, and Remus, and Peter."

The girl stepped in.  "I'm Christie," she said, and took a seat next to Lily.

"Sirius Black!  Sirius!"

Sirius looked out the window and sighed.  "Mum found me," he said unhappily.  "You think I can manage to keep away from her 'til the train leaves?"

James smirked.  "Probably not."

Sirius gave him a smirk in return.  "We'll find out."

James snickered again, stood, and leaned out the door.  "Mrs. Black, we're over here!"

Sirius hit him upside the head.  "Great job, Jimmy.  Now she's gonna come over!"

"Don't call me that," James complained, and his cat hissed at Sirius.  James patted the cat.  "And does that mean your embarrassed 'cuz of your mummy wanting to give you ickle huggies?"

Sirius swiped at his head, but James ducked and snickered at him.

"You don't like being called Jimmy?" Lily asked, grinning.  "Okay, Jimmy."

"Okay, Lily-Billy," James said back, smirking when she pouted.

Mrs. Black and her husband reached the compartment.  "Honestly, Sirius Black.  One day you'll run off and I won't be able to find you again.  You'll be kidnapped by some horrid man, and then you'll regret it."

Sirius beamed.  "My kidnapper would just get sick of me and throw me back where he found me."

Mrs. Black huffed, looking more amused than anything. "You're probably right."

"Well," Mr. Black said, looking inside.  "I know you, James, and you, Peter, but the rest of you, I'm afraid I don't recognize."

Sirius sent them each warning glares.  "Let's keep it that way."

James ignored him and smiled cheerfully at his best friend's parents.  "This is Lily, Christie, and Remus."

"Nice to meet you," Mrs. Black said.  "If Sirius gives you any troubles, please let me know and I'll see that he regrets it."

"We will," Lily promised.

The whistle blew, and Mrs. Black sighed.  "I'm going to talk to your parents, James.  Have a nice time!  Be careful!  And don't get in to any trouble!"

Sirius crossed his finger.  "We won't!  Bye, mum, bye, dad."

He sat down again, then stood.  "Let me take that seat," he said, and took the seat on the farthest side from his parents, across from Remus.  James sat next to him, then Peter, and the train started moving along, slowly at first, but gaining speed quickly.

"We're off!" Sirius said happily.

James grinned and sat back, relaxing, and studied the other people.

Remus had gone back to reading, Christie was staring at her hands, a worried expression on her face, and Lily was staring out the window.  She was no longer smiling, and looked rather worried as well.  Peter was already trying to get comfortable enough to sleep, and Sirius was looking out the window, watching the trees fly by with growing excitement.  "Eight hours to go!" he said happily.  "And then we'll be at Hogwarts!"

James rolled his eyes and went back to casually looking at Lily.  She was very pretty, he decided. He hoped she was in Gryffindor.  He wanted to get to know her better.  He looked away from her just as her eyes flickered to him, and looked out the other window.  "What house do you want to be in, Remus?" he asked.

Remus looked up from his book and slipped his glasses off.  "I want to be in Gryffindor," he said, but there was a note in his voice that said he didn't think he had a chance.

Sirius apparently noted it to.  "But?"

Remus looked down.  "I'll probably be in Slytherin."

Lily looked at him curiously.  "You don't look evil," she said.  "And everything I've heard and read says that Slytherins are quite a bit on the evil side of things."

Remus shrugged.  "You don't know me."

Sirius snorted.  "She's a good judge of character.  She figured out I was odd.  But she was off on James.  He isn't nice at all.  He's a git."

"And you, sir, are a monkey," James said in return, and they grinned at each other.

Peter rolled his eyes at them, and Lily looked at Christie.  "What about you?"

"Ravenclaw," Christie said wistfully.  "But Gryffindor's my second choice.  My mum was a Ravenclaw, and my dad a Gryffindor.  But I'm not much on the brave side of things, so I figure I'm better off being smart."

"Mine were both Gryffindor," James said proudly.  "I'll be in it too, have no doubt of it."

"My dad was in Gryffindor," Sirius said.  "So was my uncle, and the rest of my family.  My mum's a Muggle," he explained to those who'd missed it.  "So I guess I'll end up in Gryffindor too.  But that's okay, because Gryffindor's the best house."

"My mom was a Hufflepuff," Peter added sadly.  "And my dad was a Ravenclaw.  I don't think I'm going to get in to Gryffindor, but I really want to.  But I guess anything would be okay, so long as I just don't get sent back home."

"You can get sent home?" Christie wondered, horrified.

James rolled his eyes.  "It hasn't happened before.  Though you might be if your letter was a fake."

"Fake?" Lily wondered, worried.

James shrugged.  "You know, if someone sent a Muggle or a Squib a letter and then got them convinced they were Magic."

"You're just trying to scare us," Lily accused.  "No one would do that."

James grinned.  "You're right."

"Do you all already know magic already?" Lily asked, looking at Sirius for a straight answer.  It was clear that this was something that had been bothering her for a while, because her expression was clearly a worried one.

Sirius shook his head.  "I've learned a few things, but don't worry about it.  Technically, we're not even supposed to use magic until we've finished at Hogwarts, so most people don't teach their kids.  My dad's an Auror though, so he believes we should all know how to defend ourselves.  He taught me how to do a shield thing, and a few other neat tricks.  Jimmy-boy knows lots more though."

James sent Sirius a look.  "Not a lot.  My dad's in the Ministry, so I had to learn all that stuff too.  And then one day I was in Dad's office and I figured out how to get my name on the list of people allowed to use magic whenever they want, you know, the adult list.  Sirius is on it too, so now we can do it all the time."

"We still don't know how to do much," Sirius admitted.  "But we learned enough to pull some awesome tricks on people."

"I know the words to a bunch of spells," Christie said, envying the two boys.  "But I haven't ever tried them.  My parents would flip if they so much as knew I knew that much."

Peter was the same.  "My parents would kill me if I did.  They own a bookstore in Diagon Alley, right near the ministry.  So they're real careful not to let anything happen that might get them in trouble with the ministry or anything."

"That's how we met," James explained.  "Probably two years ago, now.  Me and Sirius were in the Alley looking for Quidditch stuff, and Pete was in the bookstore and came out to look at the new broom model.  We hit it off then, and we've been friends since."

"What do your parents do, Remus?" Lily asked, trying to include him in the conversation.

He looked up again.  "My mum's a nurse at Saint Mundgo's."  He didn't mention his father, and no one asked.

The conversation continued until lunchtime, when a witch with a cart came by.  The boys loaded up on sweets, and Lily bought a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, which all four boys highly recommended.  The first one she tried was green.  "It tastes like grass," she said, confused.  She gave the box another long look.

Sirius laughed.  "Of course.  They're every flavor." Then he put one in his own mouth, chewed it, and made a disgusted face.  "It's... It's... Toe Fungus!"

They all laughed at him, and the train continued on.

*              *              *

They arrived at Hogwarts at seven o'clock, and the six climbed out of the train and looked around in wonder.

"Leave your bags on the train" said the announcement, so they did.

Lily tucked her toad inside her pocket, and followed the boys out.  Christie stuck close to her, and they climbed in a boat near to the four boys, who'd climbed in together.  They waved to her and Christie, who waved back.

"I'm so scared," Christie said, sitting on the far side.  

Lily sat next to her and nodded.  "Me too."

Two other girls joined them in their boat.  "I'm Athena," the taller one said.  "And this is Tiffany."

"Hello," Tiffany said cheerfully.  "I'm hoping to get into Ravenclaw," she said.  "How about you?"

And their friendship began.

*              *              *

 A stern looking young woman called Professor McGonagall told them what would happen so that they would be sorted, and then left them alone.  Lily, Christie, and their two new friends went over to join them.

"Nervous?" James asked, noting the way Lily was looking all over.

She blinked and smiled.  "Well, a little.  But I was looking at all the paintings.  They're moving!"

Sirius laughed.  "Of course they do.  Aren't the Muggle pictures so boring?  These are so cool.  I heard that the entrance to the houses are all guarded by paintings, and you have to tell them the passwords to get in, and if you get it wrong, they jump out and curse you."

The professor returned before Lily could comment on that tidbit of news.  

"This way, please," she said, and they followed her inside.

The entire school was watching them, and Lily hugged herself uncomfortably.  She noticed that James and Sirius had lost some of their energy and were looking somewhat nervous.

Good, she thought.  It wouldn't have been fair if they were completely calm.  

Professor McGonagall drew her attention then.  "Sit down on the stool, and place the hat on your head.  It will call out the house you'll reside in."  She called out a boy's name, and someone Lily didn't know went up.  He placed the hat on his head, sat, and a moment later, the hat, which suddenly had a mouth, shouted out "HUFFLEPUFF!"

McGonagall waited until the Hufflepuffs had quieted, then called the next name.  "Ambrosia, Tiffany."

Tiffany let out a quiet squeak, and those who heard it laughed a little.

Pale and shaking, she made her way up front.  She sat for a moment, stiff and unmoving.  Then the hat spoke.  "RAVENCLAW!"

The table that was mostly blue let out a loud cheer and stood up, and Tiffany was directed over to the table.

"Black, Sirius."

"Atta boy, Sirius!" a girl yelled from the red table, and there was more laughter.

"His sister," James explained to Lily.  "She's a lot older than him, and she's in Gryffindor."  They waited in silence until the hat opened its mouth.  "GRYFFINDOR!"

James grinned.  "Good," he said.  "Now he'll be in with me too.  I'm getting in Gryffindor no matter what."

"How do you know?" Lily wondered.

He shrugged.  "I just do."

Two more boys and a girl were called, and then Lily was called.

Her palms were sweaty and she felt like fainting, but she put the hat on her head and waited.

When it began talking, she nearly fell off the stool, but quickly recovered, and listened to it arguing with itself about where to place her.  

Gryffindor, with Sirius, Lily thought hopefully.  Then James and Peter and Remus and Christie will be in there, and then everything will be fine.

To her surprise, the hat seemed to agree.  "GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted, and a cheer went up.

Lily caught James' eye and he winked at her, and she grinned back.

She took a seat across from Sirius, who was talking animatedly with a girl who had to be his sister.  

More names were called out, and then Remus joined them in Gryffindor.  Christie sent them a sad wave when she went to Ravenclaw with Athena, but Peter was placed in Gryffindor with them.

James, who went right after Peter, had barely placed the hat on his head when it shouted for him to join the Gryffindors.

Few other names stood out in Lily's mind, though one boy in particular did.  His name was Severus Snape, and the look he gave off was one that screamed Slytherin.  The hat screamed Slytherin too, but only after almost a minute of considering.

Once that was completed and everyone was sorted, an old looking man with a long white beard stood up from the Head Table.  "That's Dumbledore," Sirius told her.  "He's cool."

"The start of a new year," Dumbledore said, and the hall was surprisingly quiet except for his voice.  "Let us hope that it will be a good one, and that our newest additions will be welcome ones.  Tuck in!"

Food appeared on the plates before them.

The Gryffindors celebrated by grabbing food and filling their plates, occasionally tossing something at some of the younger students, just to find out what they'd do.  The new Gryffindors, not about to put up with this, threw back, and before long, a food fight was raging amongst the tables, despite Head Boy Lucius Malfoy's furious screams that they had to stop.

It was a tradition that would continue for the remaining years that Sirius Black and James Potter were among them.

*              *              *

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were joined in their room by a somewhat obnoxious boy named Greg Piper.  He complained the entire first night about how horrid it was that he was forced to be in a different room than all of his friends, who were second years.  

James managed to ignore him for the most part, until early the next morning when Greg woke him up complaining again.

Sirius was just as unhappy, and the two mischievous boys immediately decided to get to work on a good prank for him.  Remus was approved as a good chap when he offered them the use of one of his books:  _Four Hundred Eighty Nine and a Half Excellent Pranks For Beginning Witches and Wizards to Pull On Unsuspecting Foes, Friends, and Evil-Doers_.  Though the title was long enough that Sirius had to take a break mid sentence, they all agreed that it would be a great help.

Once they'd woken Peter up, and they were all dressed, they made their way downstairs, where Remus easily led them to the Great Hall for breakfast.  The hall was already crowded with students, including Lily, who was cheerfully chatting with one of her roommates.  She smiled as they sat down, but seemed more interested in the conversation she was having with the girls around her.

The four boys piled their plates and began flipping through Remus's book.  When the morning owls came in, the four barely even noticed, though James heard Lily gasp with surprise, and a few other Muggle-borns make comments.

Their schedules handed out, breakfast finished, the four boys went off to find their first class, Transfiguration with Professor M. McGonagall.

Lily caught up with them halfway there, which cheered James up for reasons he couldn't begin to imagine, and the five young Gryffindors entered the classroom in excellent moods, though they were a few moments late arriving.

"She's not here yet?" James wondered, sliding into a seat.

"We haven't seen her," Greg said.

James rolled his eyes.  He'd already noticed that Greg was the type who had a comment on everything.  

Sirius stood and turned around, watching the door.  He missed seeing the cat on the desk begin to transform.  "We ought to pull a prank on her or something-" James nudged him, his eyes slightly wide as he watched Professor McGonagall take shape.  Sirius recovered without missing a beat.  "But that would be rather horrible, especially since she seemed like such a wonderfully interesting person."

"Sit down, Mr. Black," McGonagall said, apparently not fooled.

Sirius turned around innocently.   "Why Professor, when did you get in here?  I was just telling-"

"She was the cat," Lily interrupted.  "She heard everything.  How did you do that, Professor?" Lily asked, her eyes sparkling with amazement.

Professor McGonagall forgot her irritation with Sirius.  "Ms. Evans, correct?" When Lily nodded, she continued.  "I am an Animagus.  I became one once I had mastered the fine art of Transfiguration, which is a way of changing one object, living or otherwise, into another object, living or otherwise.  This will be one of your most difficult classes, and I shall be one of your most difficult teachers.  Today, we will begin with something that is quite simple.  On your desks are a few jars of beetles.  I expect by the end of this hour, they will be buttons.  Now if you'll pay attention and watch me, I'll show you how it's done."

The class listened for fifteen minutes.  Within another five, James had transfigured his beetle into a perfect white button.  Amazed by the speed and skill it was done with, she gave James fifteen points.  Sirius, who transfigured his into a misshapen polka-dotted button, got five.  They were the only ones in the class who managed to get it all on their own.

*              *              *

History of Magic followed that, and they had that class with the Ravenclaws.  Lily sat with her Ravenclaw friends, and they giggled all through the hour.

Professor Binns, who was at least eighty years old, didn't seem to notice.

After the lunch break, the Gryffindors went into their Potions class, which they had with the Slytherins.  The teacher was a mean old hag who lisped when she spoke, and favored no one.  Sirius explained after class that she, like the Potions masters before her, and those that would follow her, was the Head of Slytherin House.  

Gryffindor's Head was always the Transfiguration Master, Hufflepuff's the Herbology Professor, and Ravenclaws, the Charms Master.  Of the four House Head, McGonagall was the youngest and newest, Professor Sprout of Herbology the second youngest, and Professor Flitwick of Ravenclaw and Professor Judas of Slytherin both seemed to be equally ancient.

Potions turned out to be quite easy for Remus, who partnered up with Sirius.  James ended up partnering with Peter, but knew before he'd even started that he'd regret it.  Fortunately, Lily was partnered up with someone and was seated next to him, so he had high hopes that if things got really bad, he could always just swap cauldrons with her or something.

Then he bit back a sigh, because he knew he couldn't ever do that to Lily.  She was just too nice and sweet.  He liked her too much.

A little angry with himself because he didn't understand why he felt that way about her, he glared at his notes and began writing again, this time focusing completely on the teacher, and doing his best to ignore the inquisitive redhead to his right.

*              *              *

The next day their classes continued.  The Gryffindors had Defense Against the Dark Arts, which all of the Gryffindors seemed to enjoy, Charms, and Herbology.

The third day was a mix of the classes they'd already had and a late night class of Astronomy.

All of them had gone to it and made jokes about what a nice place it would be to visit with a girlfriend, or in the girls' cases, a boyfriend.  Of course, none of them were about to admit that, because, while the idea was intriguing, it was also a little bit frightening.

Especially when, on the return to the common room, Professor Sinistra ran right into a pair of Hufflepuffs giggling and holding each other on their way upstairs.  Everyone in the group snickered as Sinistra proceeded to yell at them and take points away, but James could tell that more people were embarrassed than amused, though they tried to hide it.

The Gryffindors returned to their Tower, and the Ravenclaws to theirs, and James spent the night wondering why he kept imagining him and Lily being the ones sneaking up to the tower... without being caught.

*              *              *

After their first full week of school, the four boys decided it was time to let the rest of Hogwarts know that they'd arrived.  Using the Invisibility Cloak Mr. Potter had given James, they snuck into the Great Hall in the middle of the night, and rigged the tables so they would throw off any food that was placed on them.  It took all of their combined skills and a lot of luck to get it to work, as the spell they had to use was somewhat difficult for most first years.  Then they snuck back upstairs and Sirius put hair dye into Greg's shampoo, knowing that the first thing the other boy did in the morning was take a shower- and use up all the warm water in the unscented tap.

Then, finished with their pranks, the boys decided to head off to bed.

Greg woke up and went down to breakfast.  It took five minutes of people laughing at him before he realized his hair was pink, four times longer than it had started as, and sticking straight out at the oddest angles.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter arrived and silently thanked Sirius's sister for buying Sirius the hair-dye at a joke shop over the summer.  And then they congratulated themselves when food began flying off the table, covering staff and students alike.

Seeing as the food was flying everywhere, the four boys were soon covered with it as well.  But they, like much of the rest of the school, were laughing and grinning.

Professor McGonagall was furious.  With potatoes on her head and her robes soaked with pumpkin juice, she proceeded to tell everyone in the room that whoever had done it would receive detention for two weeks.

It was at this point that Sirius informed James, Remus, and Peter of his desire for the most detentions.  And he wasn't about to get them on his own.  "Professor McGonagall," he said cheerfully.  "I certainly think you need to be more specific.  Are you talking a detention for every day?  Five days a week?  Doing what exactly?"

The entire room was staring at them, and James, while not totally comfortable with it, decided that it would be worse if people knew he wasn't okay with it.  He grinned as well, acting quite nonchalant, as if the idea of Professor McGonagall glaring at him didn't terrify him.  He was, after all, a brave Gryffindor.  

"Are you the ones responsible for this mess?" McGonagall demanded.

Professor Dumbledore beamed.  "Wonderful," he said cheerfully.  "Very impressive that ones as young as yourselves could manage this.  However, as Professor McGonagall says, this cannot go unpunished.  Two weeks of detentions with Mr. Finch shall do you well, I suspect.  And that's five days a week."

Sirius beamed.  "Thank you sir.  My father will be quite pleased to know I'm off to a good start on getting the most detentions."

And he led the others in sitting down.

Greg left their shared room the next day and moved into the spare bed in the second year room.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter celebrated by finding the location of the kitchens.

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	2. The Second Year Secret

The Marauder Story 

By Zetta Zofia

Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine!  Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.

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Chapter Two- The Second Year Secret 

After the fun of first year, James returned to Hogwarts without a complaint.  The train ride was only slightly different from the previous year, with Lily riding in compartment across the hall with her Ravenclaw friends, so it was just the four boys.  That was acceptable though, as the four boys had all grown to be quite good friends.  

Their classes were still the same, as were the teachers.  The only exception was Defense Against Dark Arts, in which the teacher had changed yet again.  The new Seventh years were cheerfully telling everyone that the job was cursed, and that they would never have the same Dark Arts teacher two years in a row.

James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were making a name for themselves as the Marauders.  Often, they would play little pranks on each other, the teachers, their fellow students, and once in a while, on the entire school.

Their pranks, while usually played with the intention of getting a few laughs, were well known throughout the school, and the Slytherins, who were often victimized by them, began to grow even more aggressive towards the Gryffindors.  

One who bothered them more than the rest was Severus Snape.  He and Sirius had been in a fight during a Flying Lesson the year past, and both had ended up in the hospital afterwards.

James had made Sirius feel better by sticking Dung Bombs underneath the Slytherin table that night, and then telling Sirius all about it.

James was quite happy to be at Hogwarts, with two exceptions.  He was very disappointed that Lily, who he still felt a little more than friendly towards, and still made him feel rather funny, had started hanging out with the Ravenclaws quite a lot.  As a result, her grades had gone up even higher, but it also meant that the only time they saw her was during classes, and even then she spent much of her time talking to her other friends instead of them.  She sat by James in Transfiguration and Dark Arts though, and they often spent the time talking through lessons.  To make up for that, James had to help her with her Transfiguration, which he was becoming quite good at.  

The other disappointment was his new friend Remus.  Remus was a very good friend, Sirius and Peter agreed.  But about once a month, he disappeared.  He claimed to be visiting his ailing mother, or in the hospital wing, but neither James, nor Sirius, nor Peter believed him.  They'd seen Mrs. Lupin at the end of first year, and she'd looked perfectly healthy to them.  And he couldn't have been in the hospital wing, because Sirius had been in and out at odd times all year, and had never once seen Remus, despite his claims to being there.

Anytime it came up, Remus got a little edgy, and would change the subject, or brush it off.

But when he disappeared two weeks into the new year, James had had enough.

He, Sirius, and Peter had gathered into the library with a calendar, and were trying to remember the dates in which he'd disappeared.  James was marking them on the calendar, and so he was the first to note the strange pattern of all of the disappearances but one falling around the full moon.

Nonetheless, he figured that it was far too extreme of an idea to be true, so he did not mention anything about the dates to his friends, but instead, that night he slipped out to the library and borrowed several books.

The next month passed, and as luck would have it, their Defense Against Dark Arts Class began to study werewolves.

Remus was in class that day, but had already informed his friends that he was going to see his mother that night.

Seeing as it was Wednesday, James didn't know why he didn't just wait until Friday night, but had made no comment.

Lily sat next to him doodling.  He watched as her sketch began to take on the form of a werewolf, one depicted in horrific detail in the book, and Professor Roach, Head of Slytherin House, described them.  "Werewolves are violent beasts on their night under the moon," he said, his gaze shifting over to each student.  "But the rest of the month, you would never know what they were.  They are completely normal, capable of hiding their true selves with barely a problem, except for that one night a month."

James happened to glance over at Remus and found him white faced and staring down at his book, which depicted a sketch of a werewolf attacking people.

"They have an extreme dislike of silver," Roach continued, and pulled out a long thin knife blade that shone in the dim light of the room.  "If it touches their blood, they will die.  Touching their skin with it will cause a painful rash, and in extreme cases, such as if a werewolf were surrounded by it, or it were held near vital organs for a prolonged period, could also lead to death.  To digest silver in any form would be fatal for the wolf."

He set the knife down with a clunk and James saw Remus jump a little.  He frowned slowly and looked down at his book.

Lily was finished with her drawing, and turned to the next free page in her notebook.

"Werewolves, for a few days before turning and a few days after, are somewhat weaker than normal.  They can appear to be ill, but their bodies are often just storing up the energy that they will need to change forms come the full moon."

He unrolled a moon chart and pointed to the one labeled 'full moon'.  "Not a second before, not a second after, but at the very moment the full moon has risen and presents itself to the night will a werewolf change into its beastly form.  Their most dangerous asset is their teeth, long rows of sharp teeth that can easily tear the skin from a man's bone.  And note that I did not say an animal's bone.  Werewolves will not attack animals, only human beings."

James had stopped pretending to be interested in his notes, and was watching Remus with some concern.  He looked ready to be ill.  "Their bite is one of the most painful bites in the world, and its affects, while not fatal, are to transfer the werewolf into you as well.  That is why society is as terrified as it is of them.  The idea of a werewolf biting you sends shivers running through you, and the werewolf might never know what happened.  Often times, the werewolf will not remember much of anything from the night."  Roach stopped speaking abruptly, looking over the room.  "For your homework, you will write a foot long essay on werewolves and their dangers.  It will be worth twenty points, and is due Friday."

James figured out why he'd stopped there when the bell rang.  Remus stood up quickly, not looking at them.  "I don't feel well," he said flatly.  "I'm going to see the nurse."

He didn't wait for a response, but hurried out of the room.

Lily looked after him, surprised, but shrugged and smiled at James.  "I'll see you later," she said, but James touched her arm before she could go.  

"Can I have that drawing?" he asked.  "The werewolf one?"

Lily looked at him strangely.  "I guess... why?"

He forced himself to act casually.  "I like it.  I've always thought werewolves were interesting."  And he wanted to see what Remus's reaction would be.

Lily tore it out of the notebook.  "If you say so.  See you later!" she called, waving to them, and then she and Christie left.

"What's up with Remus?" Sirius asked, yawning.  He'd slept through most of the class.  "And do we have homework?"

James nodded tersely.  "Yeah, but we're not doing it just for class."

Sirius nodded, looking at James as if he were losing his mind.  "Of course not!  We always have a higher purpose for doing homework." He rolled his eyes when James gave him a look.

James sighed.  "Meet me in the library tonight, all right?  Right after we eat."  He glanced at the clock.  "I'm skipping Potions.  Tell Madame Zuni I'm sorry, and that I've gone to bed or some such."

He waved absently and ran out of the classroom.

Sirius and Peter looked at each other curiously.  "If he's skipping," Peter said.  "I'm not going."

"Let's go find him then," Sirius said, and they hurried off after him.

*              *              *

With books already stacked up high enough to be in danger of falling, James carried more over to the table.  He set them down with a thud, ignoring the look the librarian sent him.  He pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and began to take notes on them, going over each book in painstaking detail.

After an hour of this, Sirius and Peter arrived, and gave him somewhat shocked looks.  "You're here," Sirius said slowly, looking at the books on the table.  "Doing homework?"

James barely spared them a glance.  "Either get a book and take notes or get out."

Peter hesitated, then picked up a book, gingerly opening the cover, which was darkened with mildew and illegible.  "_Werewolves: Man or Beast_."

Sirius bent down to look at a stack.  "_Werewolves_, _Full Moon Monsters_, _What Goes Bump in the Night_, _The Beastly Moon_..."

"Read or shut up," James said again, this time even less patiently.

They sat and began to read, taking notes.

Sirius picked up on it first, and looked at James with rising curiosity.  "You have moon charts?" he asked.

James recognized the tone in his voice and finally set the quill down and looked at them.  "You don't think I'm imagining things?"

"Imagining what?" Peter asked.  He still thought they were researching for homework.

"Hang on," Sirius said, and went over to speak to the librarian for a moment.  He returned carrying several rolls of parchment.  He flipped through them, mentally comparing dates, and then looked at James.  "I didn't get this month's."

James nodded grimly and held up a roll of paper.  "It's tonight."

Sirius let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair.  "Well," he said slowly.  "That explains a lot."

"What?" Peter asked again.

They looked at each other, then at Peter.

"We think Remus is a..." Sirius caught himself and leaned in closer to whisper.  "We think he's a werewolf."

Peter's eyes went wide and he looked at the picture on the cover of one of the books.  A monstrous, slobbering beast with long teeth that resembled fangs more than anything else.  He gulped.

"Write your essays," James said.  "Otherwise someone might think it's strange that we're researching this so much and then not bothering to write the essay."

Peter managed to nod a little.  

Sirius rubbed the side of his neck and nodded.  "Yeah.  But we need to decide what to do about Remus first."

"Do we tell him we know?" James wondered.  "Or let him go on keeping the secret."

"We tell him," Peter said, surprising the other two.  They looked at him, and he looked a little flustered to have the attention for once.  "I-I just don't think he'd feel as bad if he knew we knew."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully.  "He doesn't like lying," he noted.  "So he probably hates lying about this."  He closed one of the books.  "He's got a fear of rejection though," he mused.  "It's why he was so cold towards us for a while last year, I'd bet my broom on it."  He looked at James.  "That explains why he won't try out for Quidditch too."

"How?" Peter and James wondered, not following him.

Sirius shrugged.  "Well, he'd be guaranteed to miss a few practices, and if it ever falls on a Friday night, he'd be shot come morning.  It's a shame, he's got great potential on a broom."

"Makes sense," James agreed.

"Or he could just not like Quidditch," Peter said, but knew to expect glares, which he got.

"So when do we want to tell him?" Sirius asked.  "I think we should do it soon.  Certainly before the next moon."

James and Peter agreed.  "Shall we talk to him tomorrow?" James suggested.  "He'll probably come to class late, but we could talk to him after the day's over with."

Sirius nodded his agreement, and the three looked at each other for a long moment.  "Must be tough on him, going through it, and then not having anyone to talk about it with."

James nodded, but his mind was already dismissing it.  "That'll change after we talk to him.  He can tell us whatever he's comfortable with, and we'll try to make him feel better about it."

The other two agreed.

*              *              *

Remus was bone weary by the time he'd finished his classes for the day.  He'd had a bad night.  Images of the werewolves in the textbook had plagued his mind up until the last moment he'd changed, and it had made the change even harder.  And that meant that the wolf in him had wanted to hurt someone or something, so he'd hurt himself.

The bed which had been in the corner of the room had been dragged out in the middle, the last of the sheets on it having been ripped to shreds.  One of the posters on the corner had been broken off, and he'd found it chewed to bits underneath the bed, where he'd woken up.

His stomach had a long gash on it, and his arm had several marks where he'd chewed on his own body, and it made him cringe just to think of it.  The nurse, a soft-spoken old woman who had to be nearing her hundreds, had cried softly as she'd bandaged his arms up.

As soon as she'd finished, he'd hurried away.  The last thing he wanted was pity from her.  To some extent, he'd almost rather have her despise him for what he was.  Pity hurt too much.  It made him feel even worse about his condition, and it made him want to wallow in self-misery.

And he did enough of that already.

He limped up the stairs to the room he shared with Peter, Sirius, and James.  He hoped they were at dinner.  He just didn't feel like dealing with them.  He hated to lie to them, but it was necessary.  And he needed to check what excuse he'd given them for leaving.  He was pretty sure it had been that he was sick, but it could have been that his mother was sick too.  They were both frequent stories he used, and normally he'd have checked his journal to see, but he'd left his journal under his bed for the night.

When he reached his door, he heard noises coming from inside and braced himself to act normal.

Sirius was the first to greet him with a small wave, and Remus immediately knew something was wrong.  Sirius normally wore a grin or a smirk, or was half asleep, but now he watched him enter with a completely serious expression on his face.

Peter sat on his bed, looking nervous, and James sat at his desk.

They all looked at him as he came in, and James set his homework aside.  "Hi," he said.

Remus fought back the fear that rose in him.  "What's going on?"

Sirius looked grim.  "We want to talk to you," he said, and his voice was surprisingly kind.  There was no accusation there, but Remus still stayed tense.

"How was your mum?" James asked politely.

Apparently, he hadn't been sick, Remus realized grimly.  He had to learn to remember these things.  "Not good."

Sirius nodded.  "We know you're a werewolf."

Remus felt the breath rush out of his lungs and the room began to spin.  He steadied himself by reaching for a bedpost, and tried to hide the fact that his hands were suddenly shaking.  "Wh-what do you mean?"

Sirius frowned, tilting his head and looking at him.  "We checked all the dates," he said simply.  "The symptoms match up.  The discrepancies, well, they didn't."

James noticed that Remus had grown paler and sighed.  "Take a seat, Remus.  We don't hate you for it or anything, we don't think any less of you."

"More, actually," Sirius admitted.  "It can't be easy having to do this every month."

Remus, still shaking, sat down on his bed.  He looked terrified now.

James, Sirius, and Peter exchanged looks and converged on him, Sirius and Peter sitting on both sides of him, and James sitting across from him, on Peter's bed.  

"Really, Remus," James said patiently.  "We don't want to hurt you.  We want to know how to help you."

"We haven't told anyone," Sirius said.  "And we won't.  We swore this afternoon that, no matter what happens to us today, tomorrow-"

"Or ever after," James added.

"Or ever after," Sirius agreed.  "That we would never, ever tell anyone without your permission."

"No one," James repeated.

Remus stared at them all, still too emotional to speak.

Peter, who had been nodding along with everything they'd said before this, finally spoke.  "We're your friends, Remus.  Trust us."

Sirius finally grew impatient waiting for him to speak.  "Anyway," he said.  "We just wanted to tell you that so you don't have to lie any more.  Oh, and we also wrote up the essay for you.  It'll get you an A, of course."  

He beamed, and James sent him a look.  "It'll get an A," James agreed.  "But only because I wrote it."

And then, figuring that Remus needed more time to adjust, they left him alone on the bed and went back to what they were doing, though they all sent him worried looks once in a while.

It took Remus a full week before he was willing to talk about it.

It was Friday night and they were all in the room, Sirius flipping through a Quidditch book, James polishing his broom, and Peter sitting on the floor next to him, watching with interest.

Remus studied them for a long moment, and then began to speak.  "I was seven years old," he said quietly, and they all looked at him.  Sirius marked his page, and James put away his broom.  Remus didn't look at them.  "We were out having a picnic, me and my parents.  A friend of mine was over, a boy named Louis.  We were playing hide and seek.  My parents are both wizards, but neither of them were thinking about the full moon.  They didn't even realize we were missing until it was bed time, and then they started looking for us.  The moon had already risen, and we were lost in the forest.  I don't remember much of what happened. I blocked a lot of it out.  I remember that me and Louis were talking about the best hiding place in the woods, and arguing where it was.  We didn't even know we were lost then.  And then we both realized it was dark out, and got scared."

James crossed the room then and brought him tissues.  Remus hadn't even realized he was crying, and looked down for a moment, ashamed.  But when he looked at James again, he found James watching him with gentle concern, not scorn, or amusement, or cruelty.  Remus looked down again.  "The werewolf attacked us.  He attacked Louis first, and there was so much blood... I got scared, and I wasn't strong enough to fight the werewolf, and I ran.  The werewolf must have known I was running, because he followed me.  He bit me, and it hurt beyond anything I've ever felt before."  Not even thinking about it, Remus tugged off his shirt, showing them the silvery white scar on his mid section.  

"Oh geez," Sirius whispered.  Peter was pale, and James's eyes flickered with sympathy for a moment.  

Remus ignored them.  "I don't remember much after that, but I woke up in my own bed.  Louis was dead, my mum told me.  The werewolf was caught that night, and was attacking someone else.  The wizard who caught him killed him.  His name was Donald Avery.  He didn't have any family- he's not related to the Avery at school here.  The Ministry divided his money up between me and Louis's family.  They figured out what I was quick enough.  People were scared, and no one wanted us around any more.  Mum was furious, and she and my father had a row over moving.  He didn't want to, but she didn't want to make me live with the people who'd call me names or some such.  I went to bed one night, and the next morning, my father was gone, and he'd taken the money Avery had left us."  Remus shrugged painfully.  "We left town, moved deep into the woods, and mum got a job working for a rich old man who lived up there.  A Muggle.  We weren't sure what would happen to me about schooling until Dumbledore came over to the house one day and worked out a plan."  He sighed and wiped his face with the tissue.  "I'm here on a scholarship of sorts.  Mum couldn't afford to pay, so Dumbledore worked out a deal with me, that as long as I stayed out of serious trouble, I'd be fine."

"Sirius trouble?" James said lightly.  "I think you've got a problem, Remus."

Sirius scowled at him.  "Be nice, Jimmy."

Remus managed a small smile.  "I was very worried about that, actually.  But Dumbledore told me that he meant the kind of trouble that would get a person suspended, or expelled... He said that so long as it stays within the parameters of decency, it's all right."

"I've got a confession to make too," Sirius said finally.

They all looked at him, and he leaned back on his bed, his expression unusually somber.  "I was just born, and had just met James.  My parents and his parents were quite close and all that.  We've grown up together of course, pranking and playing jokes on our friends and neighbors and the like."  He looked at them all, quite seriously. "A week before we started at Hogwarts, Mr. Potter called me into his study.  My parents were there, as was Mrs. P."  He sighed heavily.  "James, I'm sorry to tell you this, but.... They told me I'm a better prankster than you."

They all stared at Sirius for a long moment.  Then James looked at Remus.  "Anyway, we're glad you trust us enough to tell us.  We solemnly swear that this will never leave the room."

Remus met his gaze.  "Thank you," he said quietly.

James smiled faintly and glanced at Peter and Remus.  "Now, you two wanna help me kill Sirius?"

Sirius rolled on his side, not liking the sudden grins on the threesome's faces.

And the three boys dove at him.

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	3. A Great Idea

The Marauder Story 

By Zetta Zofia

Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine!  Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.

Feedback Me: zettazofia@yahoo.com

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Thank you to my first and (alas!) only reviewer, Honest Deception.  I've gone back and changed the first two chapters around a little bit, adding some more on to them.  I know it's not much, but hopefully you'll like it better! (Note that I'll probably reload the chapters a few times while posting this whole thing, to get it working better!)  
This chapter is short, but I'll have Chapter Four up tomorrow.

Chapter Three- A Great Idea 

The rest of second year passed by quickly, with the Marauders growing even closer as friends, with no secrets between them.  Quidditch began with James and Sirius on the team, as Chaser and Beater respectively, and Gryffindor took the Quidditch Cup with incredible ease.  By the end of the year, they'd all made plans to visit each other's houses over the summer.

And they did so, starting at Peter's house, then going to see Remus, as it was time for the full moon and he couldn't leave home until it was over.  After that, they went on to see Sirius's house, and then James's.  They owled back and forth with their other friends, Lily included.

Over that summer, the four boys discovered girls, and this new interest began to grow into an obsession, much like every other teenager went through.

When school began, Sirius had been owling Theresa Shamans of Ravenclaw for a full month.  They'd gone out twice as well, once on a double date with Remus and a charming neighbor of his that had no idea bout his little secret.  Sirius had become the most sophisticated of all of them, because he'd held hands with Theresa on the date, and when he and Theresa had gone back to her house, one time they'd even kissed each other on the cheek.

School started, and James realized with some great regret that Lily had become more interested in boys as well.  She spent even less time with them now, choosing to go out with some of the other guys in the school, including, if he were to believe the rumor, a fifth year Ravenclaw.

Though it had taken him a long time, he'd finally decided to throw in his cards and admit to himself that he fancied her, quite a lot as well.

But if she was going out with other boys, it was clear confirmation that she did not share his feelings.  James too began dating, but never even remotely seriously.  He was, after all, still too young for a serious relationship, though it didn't stop him from trying to go as far as he could.  One time he even got enough courage to kiss a girl on the mouth.  He figured that was acceptable, as the girl knew he wasn't really serious about her, and that he wasn't ready for a real relationship yet.  Sirius's break-up with Theresa was confirmation of their immaturity, as Sirius spent the next week pulling pranks on the boy she'd left him for.

That had happened a week into November.  After that, Sirius had returned to going on single dates with girls, as many as often as he could manage.  

It was shortly after the Christmas holiday that he went out with Lily, making James want to scream with insanity.  What did she see in Sirius that wasn't in him?  He and Sirius were incredibly similar, so why didn't she like him?

But Sirius and Lily's relationship wasn't meant to be anyhow, as they never went out on a third date, though Sirius did start to brag about how she'd kissed him a little.  After that, James was careful to find all the differences between him and Sirius, and point out the positives to Lily, while trying his hardest not to give away his secret.

It was February when Sirius suddenly stopped hanging around with them after the school day was over.  For an entire week and a half, he disappeared as soon as he could, without telling them anything about where he was going.

It was only by accident that Peter discovered him in the library one evening, and he reported this to James.

When James questioned Sirius about it, he just shrugged and asked them to be patient.

James, Peter, and Remus had no other choice, and figured he was working on another prank of some sort.

They found out differently on the last week of January, two nights after the full moon, when Sirius dragged them all up to their room a full two hours before lights out.  His eyes were shining with too many emotions to understand as he dragged them up.

James nearly fell over in shock when he saw the stack of books on Sirius's desk.  For one who never, ever studied, to see at least a dozen books piled up with page markers sticking out at odd angles, it was quite shocking, even if he'd known about Sirius's newfound interest in the library.

"What's going on?" Remus asked, turning his desk chair so that he could see Sirius better.

Peter sat on his bed, and James laid down on his.

Sirius laughed out loud.  "It's ingenious!" he exclaimed.  "Absolutely brilliant."

"You figured out a way to get rid of all the Slytherins?" James wondered, somewhat hopefully.  He'd been extremely anti-Slytherin since discovering that Lily was going out with one.  They were out on their second date tonight, and if James had happened to be sitting down in the Common room when she came in, what a coincidence that would be.  He'd certainly tell her something about her choice in boyfriends, that much was certain.

Sirius glared at him.  "No.  But this is even better."

They all sat up at that.  Better than getting rid of the Slytherins?

"We're going to become Animagus."

They all stared at him, then James sat back, a little disappointed.  "Why in Merlin's name would we want to do that?"

Sirius sighed impatiently.  "Remember when we were reading up on werewolves last year?  Remember how they bite humans?"  

"Pretty sure I remember that part," Remus muttered.

Sirius shot him an annoyed look.  "Just shut up, Moony."

Moony?  James thought about it, then nodded.  Good name.

Remus raised an eyebrow at the name too, but crossed his arms and said nothing.

"Well," Sirius said, tapping on the back of his chair to get rid of some of his energy.  "It said that werewolves weren't inclined to hurt animals like they are humans.  And even if they bite them, nothing happens.  So," he said, his eyes gleaming.  "If we turn Animagus, then we could go down with you on the night of the full moon, and..."

James was smiling.  "Keep you company, and help you out."

Remus was shaking his head.  "That's really tricky stuff," he said.  "The Ministry keeps a close watch on Animagus for a reason."

James waved his hand, brushing that off as unimportant.  "It's mostly Transfiguration, right?  Well, Sirius and I are really good at it.  We could help Peter out..."

"There's also a little potion," Sirius added.  "But it's nothing we can't handle.  But we'll need a bunch of special ingredients.  That'll be the tricky part.  But Peter's good at Herbology and he'll be able to snag some of the stuff from the Greenhouses."

"Isn't the spell highly dangerous though?" Remus asked patiently.  "I don't want you to go off getting yourselves in trouble just because of one bloody night a month."

Sirius ignored him.  "It took me a while to gather up everything that needed to be done.  They really don't want people doing this stuff, so I've had to actually cross-reference things.  Bloody terrible job.  I almost called you in to help on it, but then I got help from the new librarian.  Told her it was a Transfiguration project, and she was stupid enough to believe it.  I hope Mrs. Silvermane is out for a while.  The new one's a looker."  He flashed them a grin and sighed with satisfaction.  "Her name's Irma Pince, and she's still fairly young.  What do you think my odds are with her?"

James was amused, but he was more interested in the books.  "We'll all have to look over it," he mused.  "But I don't think it's too bad.  Nice job on research, Sirius."

He smirked.  "I'm just so good."

James snorted, and sat down to start looking through the information.

It took them another week to determine exactly what they do, and, just to be certain, they all took one more week to decide that they really were willing to risk it.  

Only two days after they'd decided to begin the process of becoming Animagus, James got his first real girlfriend, Muggle-born Hufflepuff Molly Margaret Mendelssohn, who adored Quidditch, Magic, and him.  She hated Slytherin, schoolwork, and her name.  

They quickly found that they both enjoyed visiting the Astronomy tower at night to look at the stars, and though they were in different classes, they met up often.  Sirius was very proud, because he'd heard rumors about what went on in the tower at night.  James wasn't about to tell him that all they really ever did was look at the stars.  They hadn't even kissed!

They went out for an entire month, until James began to feel very uncomfortable around her, and broke it off.  She was devastated, and he was a little depressed, but got over it quickly when a cute Ravenclaw asked him to join her on a trip to Hogsmeade.

He dated girls on and off, and Lily met up with new boyfriend all the time.  James vowed that if any other boy hurt her, he'd have to kill them, and got Sirius, Peter, and Remus to agree, under the guise of liking her as a friend, and nothing more.

Remus took the idea of protecting her a little bit too far in James's mind, and began accompanying Lily everywhere, until they finally just admitted that they were going out.  Remus too mentioned that he and Lily had kissed, and James suddenly felt as though life was completely wretched.

Somewhat furious with himself because of his confused feelings and jealousy towards Remus, James felt guilty and began to double his efforts on the Animagus project, figuring that he needed to get rid of the guilt by doing something good for Remus.

By the end of the year, they'd started the potion, begun to work on the transfiguration exercises that would lead up to the big one, and Remus had gone out with Lily for a full month.

James was not totally unhappy when they broke it off a week before the end of school.

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	4. The Beginning of the War

The Marauder Story 

By Zetta Zofia

Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine!  Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.

Feedback Me: zettazofia@yahoo.com

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Special thanks to ThE kIdD and Citrus Wine for reviewing the last chapter.  Especially to Citrus Wine, because the comment about how there should be more reviewers has brightened my day... er... night.  Though to be honest, the one from ThE kIdD made me so happy my aunt was looking at me funny during dinner, so special thanks to ThE kIdD as well. :o)  
To Liz the Laugh, thank you for your comments.  I truly didn't mean to imply that there was any kind of adult-serious relationships going on, so I've gone back and tried to make it sound like serious relationships at that time meant more along the lines of hand holding, and a little kiss or something.  Sorry 'bout that, and I hope I've fixed it up enough to your satisfaction!  As to not having enough Lily, I'm trying to focus more on James's side of things.  She'll start to show up more and more very quickly, so I hope that'll make you like it more!

Chapter Four- The Beginning of the War 

Fourth year began with a BANG! produced by Sirius and James.  They set off hundreds of Mr. Filibusters Wet-Start-No-Heat-Fireworks in the middle of the Sorting Ceremony.  They received two detentions each, fifty points from Gryffindor, and a standing ovation, followed by a bowl of black pudding dumped on them by Peter.

The Slytherins, who'd been the ones to get wet from exploding pumpkin juice containers, remained seated, and tried to ignore the food fight raging around them.

A week after that incident, Sirius 'accidentally' dropped another firework into a random cauldron during Potions class.

It turned out to be Severus Snape's cauldron, and the look he sent Sirius afterwards made the Marauders laugh until they had trouble breathing.

Sirius got two weeks worth of detention- apparently, the potion caused painful boils to pop up on human skin, and half the class had been hit.

Another week later, a firework was tossed in Sirius's cauldron.  Fortunately, Remus saw it and warned everyone in time for it to be avoided.  The potion had used a large amount of poisonous materials, and if it had hit anyone too much, they would have been in the hospital for months.

A war started between Sirius and Severus then, and before long, the two hotheaded boys were having dueling wars once a week in the hallways.  James, Remus, and Peter made the decision to support their friend, so now Snape was up against the Marauders.

He had one advantage though, and her name was Lily Evans.

Lily and Severus had been going out for two weeks when the first fight happened.  Rumors flew around the castle about their relationship, and several people had even seen them kiss once or twice.  Sirius, who was rather angry about the whole thing, wondered out loud when the wedding would be.

When another week had passed and Lily still hadn't broken up with him, Sirius gave up trying to be nice about it and decided that they needed to speak with her.

James had agreed at first, but then he'd taken the time to think about it, and remember the reasons he'd had for not talking to her the year before when she'd been going out with a Slytherin.  Not only was it far from their place to do so, it was also guaranteed to make her furious, and James, who was still somewhat madly in love with her, did not want that at all.

But Sirius could not be talked out of it.

It was only coincidence that James was even in the room when Lily walked in the night Sirius chose, and it certainly wasn't something he'd wanted.

Sirius had been staring at the fire, but when she came in, he straightened and sent her a cold look.  "Out a little late, are we?"

She looked at him, and James, who was in the chair to Sirius's right, noticed that her eyes were shimmering.  She'd been crying he realized, and immediately had a feeling that putting pressure on her would not be the wisest of ideas.  Lily, while she was a wonderful girl most of the time, tended to have a rather explosive temper when things were not going very well.  This, he assumed, was one of those times.  "Sirius," he murmured, but his friend either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore him.

"Who are you dating now, Lily?" Sirius asked, as if he weren't certain.  "Snape, the Slytherin prat?"

Lily crossed her arms.  "Is it any business of yours?"

James fought the urge to moan and smother Sirius with a pillow.  This was not going to be pretty.  Lily could apparently sense the words Sirius was going to share with her, and had no desire to hear them.  Sirius didn't seem to noticed James's agitation.  "It is when you're supposed to be a friend of ours," he responded hotly.

"Ours?" James wondered, suddenly feeling uneasy.  He looked at Lily and saw her eyes blazing.  Oh boy.  "Sirius, leave me out of this."

"Oh, no, please don't," Lily said, glaring at him now.  "Please, do lecture me on how horrible I am for going out with him.  I'd just love to hear it from the two of you, especially considering the way you've been acting around me lately."

"The way we've been acting?" Sirius demanded.  "You're the one who's running off with Slytherins all the time, and doing Merlin knows what!"

Lily's temper was boiling over, James could see.  "Sirius, enough," he said quietly.

Lily glared at him, having only heard the whisper, not the words.  "Oh, do speak up, James.  I really want to hear this from you too.  Please, tell me every little thing I've done wrong to you two, and tell me all about how horrible I am for going out with someone I'm interested in."

Sirius stood up then.  "Lily, I can't believe that you would betray your friendship with us and go out with that slimy little jerk!  How can you be interested in that prat?"

Lily glared at him.  "He's not a prat!  And what makes you think you can tell me whom I can and can't date?"

"I'm one of your friends!"

Lily let out a hiss of breath.  "My friends would never try and boss me around like I'm a little girl, Sirius Black.  And I'm not even sure if you prats fall into that category any more, considering as much as you ignore me!"

"Well maybe they should start ignoring you if you're too stupid to see that he's a git and he's just going to hurt you.  And we haven't been ignoring you."

"Oh really?  When was the last time we went out and did something?"

"Maybe we'd go more often if your brains weren't so addled that you'd go out with Severus Snape!"

Lily went for her wand, and James hurried and stood up, stepping in between them and holding his arms out so that if they started to attack, he'd be able to deflect their wands.  In theory anyhow, as both of them had violent tempers, and he doubted that he could interfere if things got much further out of hand.

Lily's eyes seemed to be rippling with fury and he was halfway certain she was going to snap and hit Sirius if he said anything else.  Or she might just hit him if he didn't say his part and get out quick.  He looked at her first, patiently.  "Lily, he's only trying to protect you.  You know how we feel about Severus, and we're both worried that something will happen to you because you're with him, whether we're right to think it or not."  He looked over at his best friend.  "Sirius, she's a big girl and can make up her own mind about whom she dates, regardless of our opinions.  Now, both of you calm down before someone gets hurt."  And judging by the expressions on their faces, he might just be the target.  He wasted no time, but sent them both exasperated looks and went to the stairs.  He didn't go upstairs all the way though, but ducked around the corner so he could hear them.  

Lily frowned after him, then scowled at Sirius.  "Not that it's any of your business," she said icily.  "But I broke up with Severus tonight."  James grinned widely, and Sirius immediately relaxed and started to react, but she was quicker.  "And don't you dare start to smile, Sirius Black."  She pushed him, hard, and he stumbled back.  "I decided that I didn't want to be the cause of the end of our friendship, or what's left of it.  And if I hear one word from you about any of this," she hissed, her face inches away from his.  "I swear I'll get every girl in this school to stay away from you for the rest of your time here."

And she too stormed up the stairs; only she went up to the girl's portion.

Sirius sat down on the couch again, relaxing now that he knew things were all right with Lily.  

James said a quiet thank you and made his way upstairs.  He felt a lot better now.

*         *         *

The rest of the year was a continuation of the war between Sirius and Severus, only it branched out to include their houses even more.

The Gryffindors would completely ignore the Slytherins at every opportunity, as would the Slytherins do to the Gryffindors.  The other two houses simply tried to stay out of the way, though on occasion, they would be included in the fights as well.  There were two particularly bad days in which fights started, once with the seventh years, and once with the fourth years, both times in the Gryffindor/Slytherin mixed classes.  Pranks flew at both sides, with the Gryffindors managing to come out on top for the simple reason that they kept themselves from going too far- two Slytherins were suspended for two days when they accidentally sent a Gryffindor girl to the hospital wing for a month.

At the same time, life outside of Hogwarts was rough as well.  The Daily Prophet carried regular articles about attacks made on Muggle-borns, their families, and anyone who supported Muggles in any way.  Not much was known about the attacks, but the results were devastating.

Lily and most of the rest of Hogwarts saw their first Mourner owl come in on the last day of April.  It was a black owl and carried an envelope sealed with black wax.  It was delivered to Murphy Warner, a sixth year Gryffindor, and announced the murders of his parents and sister by an unknown person or persons.

The following week brought another Mourner and an even more shocking delivery, this one a large gray government owl to James, who was seated with his friends at the end of the Gryffindor table closest to the teachers.  Professor Dumbledore got a letter from the same owl and the Mourner, and the entire school was buzzing with excitement and worry as Dumbledore calmly opened the letters.

Lily was sitting with the Marauders that morning, so she was among those to hear the news first, through the letter sent to James.

James skimmed through the letter, and then his mouth dropped open and he re-read it, this time aloud.  "It's from my dad," he explained, his voice somewhat unsteady, and the people around him quieted.   "'Dear James,'" he read.  "'The Minister of Magic, Zerner Burbank, passed away last night.'"

"Oh my goodness," someone murmured.

"The Minister?  That means we've elections coming," a seventh year said.

James continued.  "'The Aurors who investigated believe he was murdered.  Elections to temporarily replace him will be held within a week.  Seeing as I haven't time to ask you and get a response back quickly enough, I won't ask about the elections that are beginning this week.  However, the official end of term will come in July.  I would like you to think about how you'd feel if I ran for the office.'" James paused for a moment, his mouth not working.  Then he managed to continue, though he sounded somewhat strained.  "'You can let me know how you'd feel at the end of the school year, but I'd like for you to sincerely think about it and let me know.  With love, Dad.'" James set down the letter and looked at his friends, his expression showing his shock and confusion.

They all looked back, their faces echoing his emotions.

Sirius summed it up the best.  "Oh boy."

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	5. Animagus

The Marauder Story 

By Zetta Zofia  
Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine!  Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.  
Feedback Me: zettazofia@yahoo.com  
Find out all about me: http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=154516  
I'm particularly proud of part of this chapter, so please let me know what you think.  I put a lot of time into it, and it only takes a minute to say something.  Please?  
Thanks to Shadow Lily and ThE kIdD for reviewing!  

Chapter Five- Animagus 

The summer following forth year seemed to be quite short in comparison to those that had passed before.  The four boys went from house to house again, though this time they spent the majority of the time at James' house.  His parents weren't home, they were off working on getting Mr. Potter elected, so the Marauders had an especially fun time, specifically at the party they threw one Saturday night.

James was very happy when Lily was able to attend it, and even happier to find she was without a date.  She ended up spending most of the night talking with him, and they danced together several times.

Of course, he did not know that during her dance with Peter, she'd agreed to go out with him.  

He didn't find out until the middle of the feast the first night back.  He wasn't too upset, as they hadn't gone out more than once, but he made sure to throw something extra messy at Peter during the food fight.

Mr. Potter had been officially elected Minister, and now James saw his father's owl nearly every day as he and Dumbledore spoke and discussed things.  James never tried to find out what was going on, as politics were far beyond his interest.

Nonetheless, he had occasionally heard his father discussing things with his associates, and picked up enough to understand some of it.  

He was the one to fill in Sirius, Remus, Peter, and occasionally Lily about the mysterious wizard who was out torturing and killing witches and wizards.  He informed them of this wizard's actions, and they all shivered together as they learned more about him.

James was the first to learn his name as well, and it was a name none of them would ever forget, though many would try.  Precious few days in their lives would pass without thinking of him, and though they would not understand the magnitude of his powers for years to come, they all knew that Lord Voldemort was a terrifying man.

But his name, while not forgotten, was pushed aside as they got further into their fifth year of Hogwarts.  

The first of the good news about the year came when James got a letter that named him Prefect.  His first reaction was more of shock than anything else, but then he found out that Lily was the Fifth Year Girl's Prefect and saw things on a much brighter note.

The Animagus potion was nearly finished, and the four boys were impatient to see it completed.  The Potion would assist them in the transfiguring, and was highly recommended, though it was possible to do it without.  But they had all read the books, and knew that it wasn't worth it to try without it, and they didn't dare to rush it.  The potion was incredibly volatile already, and if they dared to try to hurry it, they were all afraid of what might happen.

Late one night, Sirius and Remus went out to check on the status of the potion, and Peter went out on a date with a Hufflepuff girl he'd met over the summer.  James, having talked to Lily all day, could not get her out of his mind.  He finally gave up, reached in his trunk and pulled out the picture he had of her.  When he was at home, and knew that Sirius was unable to come over, he placed the picture on the table beside his bed.  But he'd always been careful to keep a few other pictures of his friends on the table.  His argument had been that it was just dumb luck that Lily's picture was more prominent than the rest.

At the moment, the picture was sleeping, leaned up against a tree outside by the lake.  On the day that he'd taken the picture, they'd been out on a picnic.  Lily's date for the event had been one of the other Gryffindor Chasers, and was a friend of Remus's.  James had felt very uncomfortable with the whole situation, and though he'd tried his hardest to ignore it, he knew that at the Quidditch practice following the picnic, he'd been quite awful towards him.

He smiled sadly at it and set the picture on his chest, staring at the top of his bed.  

Despite his fondest wishes, his feelings for Lily still hadn't changed.    If anything, they had grown even stronger.  He didn't know how everyone missed it.  Between the way he acted about her boyfriends, and the way he acted whenever he saw her, or spoke to her, or participated in any activity that reminded him of her... It had to have been obvious that he cared for her a great deal more than as a friend.  Every time he talked to her, he felt... weird.  Like the entire world was a better place, and every time he was with her, all of the bad things going on seemed to fade into obscurity.

He was getting tired of pretending she didn't matter so much, and he was sure that his feelings about her had been fairly obvious.

At least, Synthia Raven had thought so.  When she'd broken up with him after their three weeks of dating, she'd mentioned that he ought to just get over his issues and go tell her that he loves her.

When he'd argued with that, she'd just glared at him and told him that she was "not as blind as the rest of the world seemed to be" and he could deny it all he liked, but she knew better.

He'd been very grateful that she'd broken up with him in the privacy of the gardens, with no one around to hear the conversation.

That was part of what bothered James.  How was it that she had gone out with him for only three weeks, but knew what even Sirius didn't?

He heard someone coming upstairs and quickly stuffed the picture under his pillow and snatched a book off the table, pretending to be reading.

Sirius walked it, whistling softly and happily.  "Only a few more weeks," he informed James immediately.

James set the book down, glancing at the cover to see what it was he was supposedly reading.  It was his Charms book, and that made him think of Lily, but he looked at Sirius anyway.  "Remus agrees?"

Sirius snorted and rubbed the goatee he was trying to grow.  He thought it made him look more mature, and the other three weren't about to tell him that it really didn't.  Besides, they were all trying to grow one, and they were afraid they'd hear the same thing back about their own.  "You doubt my word?"

James just gave him a patient look.

Sirius rolled his eyes.  "Yep."

James set the book back down on the table beside his bed.  "Did we have homework in Charms today?" he wondered.

Sirius shot him an incredulous look.  "We didn't even have Charms today.  We had it yesterday.  Today we had Potions and Transfiguration, and you had your Arithmacy class."

James suddenly remembered being in those classes.  Lily had sat with them the whole time, as Ravenclaw had been hit by a flu bug, and her friends were all out of class except for him and the rest of the Marauders.  "Oh yeah."

Sirius was frowning at him though, and went over and sat on the edge of his bed, looking at James worriedly.  "Is everything okay James?  You're really acting weird."

James sat up, leaning against his pillows.  "I'm fine."

Sirius nodded slowly.  "Right."

The door opened then, and Remus and Peter entered, still laughing hysterically over something that had happened.  "What's so funny?" Sirius asked, leaning back.

Peter snickered.  "You missed it.  It was great.  S-Severus was harassing some little Hufflepuff about something.  Frank Longbottom comes up to him."  He started laughing again, and Remus leaned against the wall for support.  "H-he grabs him by the neck of his shirt and drags him back, starts yelling at him, and Snape says something rude back.  Frank turned him into a donkey."

"Snape's a donkey?" Sirius said, jumping up.  "Where? Where is he?  I gotta see!"

Remus let out a laugh.  "Filch found him and took him to Dumbledore."  He snickered again.  "And the whole time, Snape's braying..."

"He-haw!" Peter said, and the two doubled over in laughter again.

James and Sirius exchanged amused looks.  "Don't suppose you got pictures?"

Remus snickered.  "That's the best part.  You know how Christie's been talking about doing a school newspaper, like the Muggles do?  Well, she was there with a camera.  It'll make the front page!"

They doubled over in laughter again, and James grinned and stretched out on his bed.  The pillows shifted and the corner of the picture frame was uncovered, but no one noticed.

Peter and Remus were still laughing over Snape's condition, but were settling down.  

Remus snickered once more though as he took a seat at his desk, then looked over at James.  "That reminds me.  Lily asked me to ask you to go see her when you get a minute.  I think she wants you to write the Quidditch column for the paper."

James sat up, frowning.  "I didn't know she was part of the paper."

Remus snorted.  "She's Christie's friend.  She got suckered into it just like everyone else who knows her.  She's trying to get me to write a column of some sort, but I think I managed to convince her I haven't the time to."

James shrugged, thinking about it.  "I think I could do a Quidditch column."  Especially if it meant he'd get to see Lily more often, or even once more than normal.  He slipped off the bed.  "Guess I'll go find out if that's what she wants."

"Adios," Sirius called lazily.  "But isn't it kinda late?"

James shrugged, looking at the clock.  "It's only ten.  I'm sure she's still up."

Sirius waited until he'd left the room.  "He's been acting odd, lately."

Remus shrugged.  "I haven't really noticed it, but I've been rather out-of-touch."  The full moon had just passed, and he'd been in the hospital for a day and a half after.  There'd been a terrible lightning storm, and Moony, as they all now called the werewolf, did not particularly like storms.

Peter shrugged.  "He just broke up with Synthia.  Maybe that's what making him weird."

Sirius snorted.  "I doubt it.  He'd been complaining about her for the week before she broke up with him.  He wasn't that emotionally attached to her."  He frowned, lying down on his bed.  "And besides, it's a weird sort of odd.  He's been daydreaming a lot.  Can't tell you how many times I've been able to sneak up on him lately too.  And he's got a funny look on his face half the time.  He had it when I came in.  And he was reading his Charms book."

Remus looked at the book on the table.  "Well, maybe he's doing homework."

"We didn't have any," Sirius informed him.  "Flitwick had us do it in class, except for you, who missed class."

"And James and Lily were the first ones done," Peter added.  "But I think she did all the work, because otherwise they'd have taken longer than me and Sirius did."

Sirius snorted.  "James isn't as incompetent as you are, Pete."

"Hey!" Peter complained.  "I'm not incompetent.  I'm just not good at Charms."

"Or transfiguration, or Potions, or Divination, or much else."

Peter glared at him, and Remus sighed.  "Peter's good at some things," he said.  "And you're good at others.  Leave it at that before I have to bite you."

Sirius snickered.  "Well, someone's in a feisty mood today."

Remus shrugged.  "I've got a lot to do," he said as explanation.  "Now shush up and leave me be."

Sirius made a face at him, but rolled over on his side, facing away from the Remus and door, towards James's bed and the window between them.

He saw the corner of the picture frame.  "Does Jim have any girlfriends that I don't know about?"

Peter frowned.  "We just went over this, remember?  He just broke up with Sylvia.  Er, she broke up with him or something."

Sirius frowned.  "And he hasn't mentioned anything about a girl he likes, has he?"

Remus looked over at him.  "What's your point?"

Sirius sat up.  "Then whose picture is that?"

Peter and Remus looked over at the bed.  "Where?" Remus asked.

Sirius stood up.  "Right here."  He reached for the picture frame.

"_Accio_ picture," James called from the door.  It flew across the room and into his hands, and he slipped it out of the frame, careful to keep his friends from seeing it.  "_Incendio_."

The picture caught fire and he dropped it, watching Lily-of-the-picture burn with some regret.  But it was better than having Sirius figure it out.

"That's not fair," Sirius complained crossly.  "You're supposed to be off with Lily."

"She's not in her room," James explained, stepping on the flames.  

Remus nodded.  "That's right, she was going out tonight.  I forgot."

"With who?" James wondered, frowning a little.

Sirius noticed that and frowned as well.  "Frank, I think.  I thought I heard him say she was helping him with Charms in the library.  They'll probably be back soon and you can ask."

James, oddly enough, looked relieved.

Sirius laid down again, his eyes on James.  "Why are you so curious?"

James shrugged as he lay down on his own bed.  "Just surprised that she'd ask me to see her when she's not even going to be there."

Remus glanced at Sirius, wondering at the tone in his voice, but Sirius sent him a warning look and Remus stayed quiet.

"I'm off to bed," Peter said.  He'd seen the looks that had passed between Remus and Sirius, and he wondered about them, but didn't ask.  They'd have just told him not to worry about it, as if he couldn't handle the truth of whatever was going on.  He bit back a sigh and crawled into bed.  He'd find out eventually, he was sure.

And he went to sleep.

Sleep did not come so easy for the rest of the Marauders.  James was plagued by visions of Lily and Frank, locked in a passionate kiss, and holding hands and smirking at him, and wearing wedding clothes and getting married.  The last one was the worse, as it was a bit too extreme for them to even consider this early in their relationship.

Sirius and Remus were considering the possibilities of James having a crush on their red-haired friend, and finding it somewhat surprising.  Even more surprising was the thought that they would make a good couple.  After an hour of tossing and turning, Sirius decided that he'd first try to find out if James really did like her, and then, whether he did or didn't, he'd try to set them up.

Remus decided the same.

*              *              *

Lily got the flu from one of her Ravenclaw friends, and spent the night up in the hospital wing.

James, worried to pieces but not daring to show it, snuck up in the middle of the night and brought her some candy and one of the most adorable little stuffed animals he'd found in Hogsmeade, and picked up for her.  It was no coincidence that it was a little stag, nor was it a coincidence that the next two days he brought her three more, a rat, a dog, and a wolf.  Lily did not understand the meaning of it, of course, and James wasn't about to tell her that he and his friends were hoping to become the Animagus version of those animals, no matter how much he liked her.  His friends had seen the animals and had found them quite amusing, and had agreed that they were quite appropriate to give as gifts.

It was another week before Lily was completely better, but James was fairly certain that she'd passed it on to him.  During the Quidditch match over the weekend (Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff) he'd only scored twice, and had been fouled three times, a sure sign that something was amiss.  Even so, Hufflepuff was easily defeated, and everyone shrugged it off as just a bad day for James Potter.  

He refused to go to see the nurse though, because that night the Animagus potion was completed.

Very tired, feeling dizzy, ready to vomit, and sick with a fever, James hid his illness and went down to the empty classroom with his friends.  

They drew straws to see who would go first, and James won, though for once, he wasn't entirely thrilled about it.

Remus, already worried about what could go wrong, was reluctant to give James any of the potion.

James, who was never the most pleasant person when he didn't feel well, finally gave up and just took the cup and got his own.

However, he raised the cup, got a good smell of the potion, and finally couldn't hide the fact that he was sick.  He spent a good amount of time kneeling over the trash can in the room, with his friends standing around and watching with humor, shock, and relief that he hadn't gotten sick from the potion, but from the fact that he was sick.

Following his bout of vomiting, Sirius and Remus helped him up to the nurse, Peter trailing behind them with the garbage can, just in case.

Though he felt rotten for much of the next week, he wasn't too upset.  Lily visited him every day, and even though she brought him his homework, he didn't really complain, because it gave him the chance to be with her.  She also brought him candy, but informed him that she didn't think he'd want any stuffed animals, so she hadn't gotten him any.  Instead, she'd given him her homework to copy from.  He didn't complain.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter visited him every day as well, though they were constantly teasing him about his reaction to the Animagus potion.  Sirius claimed that James was so afraid to try it that he'd gone and got sick on purpose, and the other two agreed.  James, getting annoyed with them all, threatened to breath on them and get them sick so they'd find out exactly how it felt to have the flu.  In response, they just stood further away from him.

Finally, he was released.  Thursday night, they practiced their exercises, and Friday they gathered in the classroom again, jokes flying about how James would react this time.

Again, they drew straws to find out who would go first.

Sirius got the honor, which irked James to no end.

The room they'd chosen to brew the potion in was located on the lowest level of the castle, beneath the Gryffindor tower.  They'd found the room in their second year and had debated making it public knowledge, but then decided that it would be more enjoyable to keep it a secret.  And it had worked out for the best, as the boys now had a private place to create the potion in.

They were all in there now, gathered around the bubbling orange brew.  Sirius was wearing only his jeans, and they had all brought a change of clothes in case something happened.  None wanted to find out that when they changed back they would be naked or something embarrassing like that, and be forced to return to the tower in their birthday suits.  Remus had already informed them if something went wrong and they didn't have their clothes, he was not going to miss out on humiliating them for it.

Sirius, while trying to act calm, was quite obviously nervous.  He joked non-stop even as Remus poured him a cup full of the stuff.  But when he took it from him, he went completely pale.  He wouldn't look at the others, just stared at the cup for a long moment, taking several slow, even breaths to steady himself.

"Drink the potion," Remus said.  "Then slowly- very slowly!- start to think about the shape you want."

"And don't start vomiting," Peter suggested, then ducked out of the way as James tried to hit him.

Sirius stared at the potion, not even hearing Peter's comment.  "Bottoms up," he managed to say, then began to drink it.

He grimaced immediately, looked ready to be ill, but continued to drink the potion.

He set the cup down on the table then sat on the floor and closed his eyes in concentration.

It seemed like hours passed like that, but it was only five minutes.  

Then he began to grow hair.

Peter whispered something under his breath and James and Remus tensed in anticipation.

His face began to change, and his arms and legs and body.  

Thick black hair covered him, and his face began to grow outwards.

"He's a dog," James breathed slowly, as the shape became clearer.  And he was.

But not just any dog.

He was the Grim, as depicted in their textbooks, and as seen in nightmares, with long shaggy black hair, a long snout, and stood tall enough to reach James's midsection.  "Son of Merlin," James whispered, then grinned.  "He did it."

Sirius the dog shook himself all over, rolled his neck and looked behind him, at the lower portion of his body.  His tail wagged wildly, and for a minute it looked like he was chasing it.  Then he barked and jumped up on James, then Remus, then Peter, then began to chase his tail again.

"That's incredible!" Remus said, beaming.  "That's bloody marvelous!"

"Change back," James said, chewing on his lower lip.  "Just to make sure you can."

Sirius stood still for a moment, then slowly changed back into himself.  He was beaming.  "It worked!" he said, thrilled.  He grabbed Remus and hugged him, then James, and then Peter.  "It really worked!"

James slapped him on the back.  "Bloody fantastic!" he said.

"Who's next?" Remus said, looking between Peter and James.

Peter pointed to James, who grinned.  "What's it like?" he asked.

Sirius just shook his head.  "It's... It's impossible to explain.  It's weird, but... it doesn't hurt much, but it's impossible to explain.  It's awesome!"

James grinned crookedly.  "Great."  

Remus poured more of the potion in the cup and handed it to James.  "Good luck," he said, but his eyes were shining with excitement.

James nodded and swallowed the potion.  He set the cup down, shot Sirius an annoyed look for not warning him about the horrible taste, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate.

And within a few minutes, he had taken the shape of a stag.

Sirius let out a hoot of laughter.  "Incredible!" he exclaimed.  "Absolutely incredible!"

James changed back and then he and Sirius looked at each other and grinned widely.  "That's... it's..." James threw up his hands, shrugging and laughing.  "It's bloody brilliant!"

Peter, his confidence in the potion and the help of James and Sirius high, took a deep breath and took the cup from Remus.

Sirius and James were giving him encouraging grins, and Remus was looking at him with such hope in his eyes that Peter knew he couldn't even dare to fail.

He looked down at the cup and swallowed.  It tasted so dreadful that he almost spat it out at once.  But he managed to swallow it, and squeezed his eyes shut to finish off the rest of the cup.

Then he felt Remus take the cup from him and kept his eyes closed and began to concentrate.

Think Rat, he thought sternly.  Rat rat rat rat rat rat rat rat rat.

Rat.

He pictured the rat that James and Sirius had caught for him the other day, imagining what it would feel like to be that rat.  It had lots of fur, and it's nose was pale and stuck out far from it's face... 

Think rat, he thought again, and felt something strange go over his skin.  He was growing fur, he realized with giddiness, but forced himself to concentrate.  

He pictured its mouth, its teeth, its feet... and then drew a blank on what the tail was supposed to be like exactly.  He remembered it had reminded him of a worm a little bit, so he tried to picture a worm with fur over it, and hoped for the best.

And then he heard himself squeak and opened his eyes, surprised.

All he could see was a big pair of feet.

He followed the legs up, very high, and saw Remus and James and Sirius looking down at him, big grins on their faces.  Remus knelt down and Peter crawled onto his hand.

He felt dizzy when Remus lifted him up so quickly, but it was worth it.  James, Remus, and Sirius looked so excited, and Peter was so proud of himself.

It was probably the best day of his life.

*              *              *

They went out on the night of the next full moon and to their great joy, found that Moony enjoyed their company.

Peter was small enough that he could touch the knot in the tree and get it to freeze, and then James and Sirius could hurry inside behind him, change into their forms, and then go get Moony.

On that first night, they went all over the grounds surrounding the castle.

When morning came, they were all too giddy still to sleep, and to everyone's surprise, Remus was too.

The teachers were stunned, the students were stunned, but everyone liked it.  Except the Slytherins, but no Marauder would ever really care what they believed.

They sat down immediately after that and began plotting out their next adventure.  It was at that point that the idea for a map was created, and the first sketches were drawn, by Peter who had surprising skill.    They created their nicknames- Peter, having told them about his tail, earned the name Wormtail.  Sirius, who resembled the Grim, took the name Padfoot, which was what the Grim was called around where Remus lived.  James took the name Prongs, because Sirius seemed to find it quite amusing that his best friend had antlers, and had begun calling him that without giving him a chance to protest.

They became Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

Being pranksters, the map was not their only project, and they continued to wreak havoc on the school for the rest of the year, even going so far as to sneak inside on one full moon and create havoc.  

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	6. The Painful Truth

The Marauder Story 

By Zetta Zofia

Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine!  Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.

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Thanks to XaXona for reviewing! (And I'm sure your idea doesn't suck! Write it!)  
Hope you all like this chapter, as I've just finished rewriting half of it.  :o)

Chapter Six- The Painful Truth 

Sixth year started with a celebration, as England's team won the World Quidditch Cup.  

The Marauders had all been in attedance, and not for the first time, dominated conversations with stories of the amazing moves that had filled the Quidditch Match.    

Even two weeks later, when school started again, the four boys were still talking about it as if it were the most exciting thing to have ever happened.  Of course, ever one in school who'd attended agreed, which did not help quiet them down any.

Much to the shock of his friends, family, and most of the school, James was still a Prefect.  This year, his duties were a little more advanced, but he didn't complain because it meant he would spend more time with Lily, who was still the other Prefect.

Because of his position, the Marauders decided they should be more careful about what they did.  But their pranking continued, and though the pranks were less frequent, they were far more complicated and interesting.  

Sirius, through means he would not discuss, had obtained a rather large bottle of Veritiserum, a rather powerful potion that would cause anyone who tasted it to speak the complete truth for some time afterwards.  

This was one point in time when James' invisibility cloak came in quite handy. 

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter all snuck down to the kitchens late one night under the pretense of wanting a snack.

While the House Elves bustled around to get them something, Sirius dumped most of the bottle in the Pumpkin Juice dispenser.  

Laden down with food and water, the Marauders returned to their room, snickering and wondering what horrible truths would be revealed come morning.

Of course, they'd neglected to mention to James that they hadn't dumped all of it in the Pumpkin Juice.

They'd also dropped a little into his mug of water.

Sirius was quite pleased to see his friend drinking the water with absolutely no idea of what they'd done. For weeks, he and Remus had been trying to find a way to get James to spill on the identity of the girl he liked, because it had to be a girl that was keeping him distracted.  There was no other reason he'd stop going on dates, ignore Tilly Mae Pierson of Hufflepuff and her short skirts, and generally be in such a weird mood.  And with the way he was acting around Lily, he and Remus both thought that she might be the one who'd done it to him.  

And now that James had been primed with Veritiserum, everything would be all right, because they could find out exactly what was going on.

Sirius and Remus exchanged amused glances, and Peter snickered a little as they got more comfortable, while James drank more.

James looked confused.  "What's so funny?"

"Oh, just thinking," Peter said, shrugging.  "Wondering what Snape'll have to say."

"And Lily," Sirius added, taking the opening.  "You know, what she'll say when she starts chatting about it all.  How do you feel about Lily, James?"

And even before he answered, James knew what they'd done from the smug look on his face.  "I love her." His face lost all color when the other three boys smirked at him, Sirius looking triumphant, if a little startled by the simple truth to the statement..  "You put it in here," James whispered, setting the mug down.  "You put Veritiserum in my drink."

Remus shrugged.  "We wanted to know."

"How long have you loved her?" Sirius asked.

"Since first year," James answered, and the expression on his face would have been comical if his eyes hadn't shown so much hurt and anger.  He glared at Sirius, Remus, and Peter, and some of the humor left their faces.  They hadn't expected James to actually be really angry.  "I can't believe you'd do this to me," he said, and grabbed the invisibility cloak off the bed.

"James," Sirius said patiently.  "Just calm down."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Peter asked.

"Because you'd tell her, you assholes." James answered in response, despite the fact that he'd fought not to answer.  His voice was shaking from the effort to not answer, and from the anger he felt towards them at that moment.

He glared at them and stormed out of the room.

Sirius was the first to follow, and the other two were close behind.  "You probably shouldn't go far," Remus said quietly. 

"God forbid Snape find you like this," Sirius added, trying to make James laugh.

James turned and punched him, much to the shock of the half dozen people still in the Common room.

Sirius stumbled back, nearly crashing into Remus and Peter.

"What'd you do that for?" Sirius demanded, rubbing his sore jaw.  

James nearly snarled at him.  "Because you gave me Veritiserum, Sirius."

Everyone in the common room heard this, and quite a few people suddenly looked interested.

"Do you want to go out with me?" a girl asked hopefully.  

"Who's the one who put the spiders in the girls bathroom last week?" another girl asked, looking hopeful.

"No.  Sirius did it." James answered, the winced, and glared at his friends.  The girl, quite obviously hurt, rushed upstairs to her room.  The girl who'd asked about the spiders glared at Sirius, who didn't even notice.

"James," Remus said.  He suddenly felt that it might have been a bad idea.

The situation got worse, as it had to.

Lily came downstairs, looking furiously at them.  "What's going on?" she demanded.  "Why'd Rhonda start crying?"

"They gave me Veritiserum," James answered, looking quite pale again.  "I told her I didn't want to go out with her."

Sirius quickly stepped between James and Lily.  "Uh, now's not a good time, Lily.  You know, James being all pissed off and such."

But Lily looked amused.  "Veritiserum?  Lovely.  And I'm guessing that bruise on Sirius's face is from you, James?"

"Yes," James answered, and Remus could see the panic growing on his face.

"Come on," Remus said urgently.  "Let's go back upstairs."

"Night, Lily," Peter said uneasily.

She crossed her arms.  "I don't think so," she said.  She pushed Sirius out of the way and smiled at James.  Then she frowned when she saw him grow even paler.  "What's wrong?  Are you sick?"

"I don't want to talk to you," James said with painful honesty.  "I'm not sick."

Sirius tried to laugh it off, but he saw the hurt and confusion on Lily's face.  "Well, he doesn't want to talk to any of us either, Lil.  Don't feel bad."

"Why don't you want to talk to me?" Lily asked, ignoring Sirius.

"Because I'll tell you how I feel about you," James said, and was so pale he would have matched a sheet.

Sirius shoved him towards the stairs.  "Uh, bye Lil!" he said, trying to escape.

She reached around Sirius and grabbed James's arm before he could escape.  Judging by her expression, James figured she was expecting something a little different from the truth.  "How do you feel about me?" she demanded, looking as though she were bracing for him to say he despisded her or some such.

The Common Room had gone quiet and everyone was watching.

Sirius and Remus looked pale and upset, as if they knew what was coming, and Peter was already cringing.

"I've been in love with you since first year," he said somewhat shortly.  "Now if you'll excuse me."

He slipped past her and his friends and went out the portrait hole.

Lily stared after him, in shock, and for a very long moment, no one said anything.

"Did he just say...?"

One of the girls in the room finally reacted, turning to one of her friends.  "I've got to go talk to Bertha."

Sirius glared at her.  "Oh, shut up," he said crossly, and turned to Remus.  "Why do you let me talk you into these things?"

Remus ignored him.  "Lily, are you okay?"

She jerked, startled, and then went up the stairs, following James.

Remus winced.  "I'm not sure if that's such a good... idea."  But she ignored him, and made her way up to the second door from the end of the hall.  "James?" she called hesitantly through the door.

There was no sound from inside.

She bit her lower lip and pushed it open.

The room was empty, and Lily frowned for a moment.  "Where are you?"

There was a muffled sigh from the back corner of the room.  "On my bed."

She hesitantly walked over there.  "Do you want me to go?" she asked quietly.

He slipped off the Invisibility Cloak, but didn't look at her.  "No," he answered, but then gritted his teeth and nodded his head.

He did, but he didn't, she surmised unhappily.  She sighed, but didn't move.  "That's not something I ever thought I'd hear from you," she said quietly.  "And I know you're telling the truth, too."  She wished she didn't know that.  It would have been a lot easier if it had been just a joke... But she knew that he would never, ever joke about something like this, no matter what the circumstances.

He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, but still wouldn't look at her.

"For... since..." She sighed.  "How long?"

"Since first year," he answered dully.  "Typical cliché.  I fell in love with you the first time I saw you."

Lily let out a humorless laugh.  "I wish I'd have known that then.  I was so sure I was in love with you then."

But that was then, and this... this was now.

They both knew it.

"How much did they give you?" Lily asked finally.

James shrugged.  "They put it in my drink and didn't tell me."

She pulled her wand out.  "I'll do what I can to at least reduce the effects.  It's too powerful to completely get rid of it, but it should make it so you can at least not answer, and it won't last as long.  You won't be able to lie at all for quite some time, double the length of what the potion would last."

"That's fine."

She made a motion with her wand and said something.  "Any different?"

"Ask me how I feel about Sirius right now."

"How do you feel about Sirius right now?"

James didn't answer, and that at least brought a grim smile to his face.

But he still wouldn't look at her.

Lily felt very uncomfortable.  "Should I go away?" she asked after another moment.

He considered it, wondering what his true feelings were about it.  He finally decided to answer however it came out.  "No."

She sat down on the bed again and sighed.  "I really had no idea," she said.  "I don't know what to say."

"Well," James said, trying not to let any emotions come out, but knowing it was useless.  "If you aren't going to tell me you return the feelings, I'd rather you just tried to forget about it."

She nodded slowly.  "I promise I will try," she said, but didn't sound as if she thought it was possible.  "I'm sorry," she said next.

He snorted and turned, finally facing her.  "You've got nothing to be sorry for," he said, still being completely honest.  "It's my own fault, and that's all there is to it."

She sighed and stretched out, her head at the opposite end of the bed as his.  "I feel bad though," she admitted.  "I feel like... like such a horrible person.  I've tossed every relationship I've had in your face, and you've never said a word.  Would you have if not for the potion?"

He didn't answer, but it was painful to keep quiet.

She accepted the silence, and decided that she needed to think about this before she could talk any more about it.  "Have you decided how to get Sirius back yet?"

James was a little surprised by the change of subject but didn't complain.  Not when he didn't want to talk any more about it either.  "I've got a few ideas," he said simply.

She nodded a little.  "If you need any help, let me know."

"I will."  He paused for a moment, and the silence was no longer comfortable between them.  She stood up pocketing her wand, and he watched her as she started to go.  He stopped her as she reached the door.  "Hey Lily?"

She turned and looked at him curiously.

"Don't drink the pumpkin juice tomorrow."

*         *         *

James kept the Marauders locked out of the room for the night, and went downstairs in the Invisibility Cloak.  

Sirius was sprawled out on a couch, snoring.  Peter was on a chair, curled up and snoring even louder.  Remus was stretched out on the loveseat, his head tilted back and his mouth slightly open.

James said the spell to dye their hair blue and paint their nails pink, hid their books under a chair across the common room, and slipped out the portrait hole.

He stuffed the cloak in his bag and went into the Great Hall.

There were only a handful of students up, and all of them gave him funny looks.

James sent them all glares that had them quickly looking away.

Great, he though furiously.  Now, instead of just him and one ex-girlfriend knowing about how he felt about Lily, it was all of Gryffindor, and whoever they told.

And that wouldn't be a problem, but rumors flew through Hogwarts faster than he could even think about denying it.

And what point would there be in denying it? he wondered sourly.  There had to have been at least a dozen people in the Common Room, and all of them had heard- and James held no doubts that before breakfast was over, even more people would know.

"Oy, Potter," someone called from across the room.

James looked up slowly, his glare cold.

Fortunately, it was one of the Gryffindor Beaters, and he only wanted to know when practice would be.  James informed him that it would be an extra hour long, and they would be using Sirius as the Bludger target.  The boy, Gunther White, sent him a sad smile, proving that he too knew of what had gone on the previous night.

He took a seat across from James.  "Look," he said.  "I know how you feel.  Last year?  Prewitt tricked me into admitting it in front of the girl I liked.  Of course, then it turned out that she liked me, and we've been going out for over a year now, but still, I know how it feels to be tricked into saying it in front of the girl.  Except that she actually liked me, but it's close enough."

James sent him a look.  "Gunter?"

He smiled cheerfully, thinking he'd helped.  "Yes, James?"

"Don't try to help."

Gunter's face fell a little.  "Oh.  Sorry, Jim."

"What've you got to be sorry for, White?" Severus Snape sneered, standing a few feet away from them.  A handful of his cronies were near him as well.  "You reject him too?"

James pretended not to hear him.  "S'kay, Gunter.  You mind telling everyone else what the plan is?"

Snape was not going to be ignored.  He shoved Gunter aside and smirked at James.  "How's it feel to be rejected, Potter?"

"What, you don't know?" 

It was Sirius.  He'd managed to get rid of the nail polish, but his hair was still blue.  It matched the bruise from where James had punched him quite nicely.   He didn't seem to mind though, nor did Remus or Peter, who were behind him.

James sent them a look that made the one Severus got look down right friendly.  He then looked at Severus, his voice perfectly even.  "While I'm certain that you're very pleased to hear about all of this, may I be the one to remind you of how fast she dumped you?"

Severus sneered.  "As if I'd wanted to go out with the mudblood any longer."

Sirius immediately started to dive at him, but Remus and Peter pulled him back.  "You son of a-"

Remus cut him off with a well-timed Silencing Spell.

And the area around them went silent as James slowly stood up, leaning across the table a ways.  "If you ever call Lily or anyone else by that name, I swear I'll beat the crap out of you, Severus.  And you know I can, and you know I will."

"Oooh," Severus hissed, unimpressed.  "The great James Potter is threatening me.  I'm terrified."

"What should scare you, Snap-ie boy, is that he's starting to get pissed off."  Sirius smirked at Snape.

Gunter noticed the way James glared at Sirius.  "Uh," he said slowly.  "Don't try to help."

Severus smirked at James, knowing that he was irritating him greatly, and loving it.

The other Slytherins stepped forward a little, drawing Sirius, Remus, and Peter's attention.

James sat down again and continued eating his breakfast, as though Snape's presence didn't bother him in the least.  

"Oh look," Severus said suddenly, his attention drawn to the entry way.  "The Mudblood arrives."

James already knew it was Lily he was talking about.  He jumped up, stood on the bench and jumped over the table, and stood in front of Snape.  In most cases, James would have towered over the other person.  But Snape was slightly taller than he was, so James looked up at him.

It was not, however, any less threatening.  "I just told you, Snape, that if you said that word again-"

Snape smirked slowly.  "Mud.  Blood.  Slut."

James punched him, and Severus fell back, stumbling into Sirius and the Slytherins.  

James smiled coolly.  "Ten points from Gryffindor."

But Snape wouldn't give up that easily, and threw himself at James.

The two boys fell to the floor, punching and kicking.

The three Slytherins, having seen James in a fight before, immediately tried to help Severus.

But Sirius, Remus, and Peter would not allow that, and soon they were all fighting.

"Stop!" several teachers yelled, and out of the corner of his eye, James saw Lily running towards them.  But he looked away from her quickly as Snape punched him in the stomach.

James grunted with pain and punched him back, shoving him into the benches.

He heard Peter cry out, and saw a few splatters of blood on the ground, and swore, and punched Snape again, this time in his nose.

Snape cried out, and James winced to see the blood.

But he pulled the Slytherin away from Peter, who punched him.

"SEPARATE AT ONCE!"

The eight boys who'd been fighting froze and looked up.

Professor McGonagall was storming towards them, her face flushed with anger, and her eyes blazing with fury.

Slowly, they all straightened up, Peter holding a napkin to his cheek, where the Slytherin with heavy rings on his fingers had punched him, and Severus standing with his head bent down a ways, his nose bleeding.  He was glaring at James, who sent him a glare in return.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall demanded, stopping by James and Severus.  "Mr. Potter.  Since it was you who instigated this fight, I would like to hear you explain.  Immediately."

"Severus called Lily a mudblood," James said coolly.  "I had already suggested that he cease doing that, but he continued, and I was forced to react."

McGonagall's lips pursed.  "Mr. Snape, explain yourself."

Snape shook his head indignantly.  "I did not say that word, Professor.  I was on my way up to talk to Professor Lewis when he made a few comments to me.  I returned the comments, and he attacked me."

Gunter snorted.  "'Scuse me, Professor.  But Snape did call her that name, and James did warn him not to say it again."

"And what of the rest of you?" she demanded.

"They started to go after James," Sirius said, shrugging.  "We couldn't let them out number him."

"They went after Severus!" one of the Slytherins denied.

"Professor, if I may?"  They all looked at Lily, who was watching the display and looking somewhere between angry and annoyed.  McGonagall nodded a little, giving her permission to speak.  "Someone gave James Veritiserum last night.  I've fixed it so he isn't forced to answer, but he can't lie.  So he's the one who's telling the truth."

McGonagall looked startled.  "You fixed the Veritiserum?" She frowned suspiciously.  "Exactly how much did you have, Mr. Potter?"

James looked annoyed.  "I don't know.  If I had known I was having any, I wouldn't have drunk any."

"Who gave it to you?"

James remained silent, but scowled fiercely.  No matter how angry he was, he would never betray his friends.

McGonagall didn't seem to care about that, though.  She let out a short breath. "Mr. Potter, if you do not answer me at once, I will deduct fifty points from Gryffindor."

"I did it," Sirius said quickly.  He offered McGonagall a small grin.  "I wanted to see how well it worked."

McGonagall glared at him.  "Veritiserum is not a potion students are allowed to have, Mr. Black.  Ten points from Gryffindor, and you will serve two detentions.  I'll be taking forty points from each house, ten for each student fighting.  Mr. White, how many times was that foul word used?"

Gunter thought about it.  "He said it at least three times," he said finally.  "And he also used a few other words that were rather rude."

McGonagall was not happy.  "Fifteen points from Slytherin, five for each time it was used.  All of you boys will serve detention.  Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Ms. Evans, come with me.  You three go to your table at once.  Mr. Snape, Mr. Pettigrew, go find the nurse and yourselves looked at immediately."

Peter glanced at Severus, then shook his head quickly.  "It doesn't hurt," he lied.  Much.

McGonagall was already walking away though, and after a moment's hesitation, James, Lily, and Sirius followed.  Lily stayed in between the two boys though, and James was obviously still angry.

*         *         *

McGonagall took them to Dumbledore's office, and then left for her class.  Dumbledore then made Sirius explain exactly how much he'd put in James's water, and then made him give up the bottle.  Dumbledore gave a quick look over, and asked James if it had worked.  

James paused for a moment, and the three students looked away from each other.  "It worked," he said finally.

Dumbledore made a small noise and looked at Lily.  "Ms. Evans.  You then used a spell to lessen the effects?"

Lily looked worried.  "I found it in a book I borrowed from the Restricted Section of the library, for a Potions essay.  I didn't think there was a problem with me using it, am I going to be in trouble?"

Dumbledore shook his head, smiling kindly.  "No, of course not.  More along the opposite, in truth.  That spell is an incredibly difficult spell, Ms. Evans.  It is one that few people could ever master- much less while in their sixth year."

Lily was flustered.  "I-I didn't know, I just..."

He took pity on her and smiled kindly.  "Not to worry, Lily.  This is quite an impressive event.  I shall speak to Professor Flitwick about providing you with additional lessons."

Lily nodded, still a little flustered.  "Yes, sir."

"Now," he said, sitting back in his chair.  "Off to class with you.  And Mr. Black?" Sirius looked at him.  "It would be a wise idea for you to refrain from using such potions again.."

The threesome stood and filed out into the hall.  James didn't wait for either of them, but took off towards class at once.

Sirius glanced at Lily uncertainly, and she gave him an impatient look, and indicated that he go after James.

But before that could happen, students filed out of the classrooms, talking excitedly.

Lily only caught part of the conversations.

"....Veritiserum?"

"...spiked the food..."

"...I'm not in love with you.... I'm in love with Steven."  The girl who said that looked horrified, and her boyfriend not much better.

"You're really obnoxious when things don't go your way."  And then the boy who'd said that got slapped.

Professor McGonagall hurried down the hall.

Dumbledore had come out of his office and was looking around curiously.  Professor McGonagall met him while Lily was still within hearing distance.  "Albus," she said unhappily.  "They put the serum into something at breakfast.  Every student in this school is speaking nothing but the truth."

"And what of the staff?" Dumbledore wondered, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"We are as well."

"Oh my," Dumbledore said, chuckling.  

"Professor!" a student called from down the hall.  "What color are your knickers?"

Professor Dumbledore chuckled, answered, and cancelled classes for the rest of the day, until the serum had worn off.

James was not speaking to any of the Marauders.

Lily was on speaking terms with all of them, but the situation between her and James was uncomfortable.  They avoided each other as much as possible.

Sirius, having debated long and hard about what to do to make things right, ended up walking up to James, dumping Veritserum in a cup, and drinking it.

And then living with the uncensored consequences.

Peter followed his example, but Remus decided that because of his situation, it would be a very bad idea.

James forgave them, but it was quite obvious that he wasn't totally enthusiastic about it.

*         *         *

While talk of who had done such a thing remained popular for a long time, and most had figured that the Marauders were at fault, most of it had faded out by the time Christmas came.  Lily and James, while still not completely comfortable with each other, had gone back to hanging out- so long as they were in groups.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter felt guilty every time they noticed this, and began plotting for ways to hook them up.  Sirius was not totally against a love potion, but Remus vetoed that idea before it even had a chance.  Unless, of course, they still weren't together by Valentines Day.

And so, when Christmas break passed, and they were still not together, Sirius began shopping around for a good love potion.

Of course, then he thought of the Veritiserum incident, and decided that he'd buy enough to give some to the entire school.  It would be funny, for certain.

He did not, of course, share that part of the plan with Remus, who he was certain would veto the plan immediately.  He told Peter, and on February thirteenth, they snuck down to the kitchens and dumped it in the daily water supply, which provided water for the entire school.  As soon as people brushed their teeth, they'd start falling in love.

Then they snuck into the Gryffindor Girls' room and slipped some of it in the glass of water Lily kept by her bed.

Of course, they didn't even notice that Lily was awake, so they had no idea that she would desire to seek revenge by returning the favor.  And she told James, and they began to plot.

*         *         *

Sirius had no idea he'd been out-smarted.  He whistled his way through his morning rituals, brushing his teeth, combing his hair, dressing, and then going down to breakfast with his three friends.

Lily was already there, and Sirius grinned in breathless anticipation.  She already looked ready to swoon, and was staring across the table with her head tilted to the side.

Sirius and Peter grinned at each other and took their normal seats across from her.

Her eyes cleared suddenly and she began to stare at Sirius, a dreamy smile on her face.  "Hi, Sirius," she sighed.  "You look really, really, really good this morning."

The grin faded abruptly, and Sirius looked at Peter, then Remus, then James, who didn't seem to have heard.

Then, shocking him even more, she stood up on the bench, stepped up on the table and switched seats, sitting next to Sirius.  Several people looked at them curiously, though Sirius didn't notice them.  Lily grabbed his arm and put it around her shoulder.  "I think I made a mistake," she said, leaning in close to his face.  "I think I want to go out with you again.  Will you marry me?"

Sirius scooted away from her, his eyes wide.

James was fighting a smile, and his hand covered his mouth as he watched it play out.

Lily didn't seem to notice. "Sirius?  Sirius, oh I love your hair.  And your eyes.  And your smile.  And your teeth.  Sirius, will you?  Will you please marry me?  I swear we can have as many children as you want.  Is eight enough?  More?  We'll have Sirius Junior, then Cassiopia, and then Andromeda, and Celaeno..."

Remus, who had been left in the dark, was watching in growing confusion, his mouth slightly open.

Sirius finally managed to get his mouth open.  "L-Lily, what are you talking about?"

"Sirius," someone said, and he looked up.  It was Christie.  She was beaming at him.  "I love you.  Will you go out with me now?"

Sirius frowned now, and looked between the two girls, then at James, who he noticed was watching carefully.  "Wait a minute.  Did you do this to trick me?"

Remus suddenly bolted upright, understanding just as quickly.  "You did the love potion, didn't you?  Sirius, I told you that was a stupid idea!"

Peter was looking a little guilty, and Sirius glared at him.  "You told James, didn't you?"

James smiled, and Peter looked a little uneasy.

Before Sirius could react, the rest of the Gryffindor girls came in and went directly towards him, all of them wearing the same expressions.  Somewhat vacant, a little desperate, and all wearing dreamy smiles.  "Sirius," one said.  "I love you."

"Can I have your children?"

"Kiss me, Sirius!" One said.

"No! Don't kiss her!" Lily said.  "Kiss me!"  She jerked on his arm.  "Sirius, please, kiss me."

Sirius looked rather upset now.  "Lily, remember who you're talking to."

"I know who I'm talking to."

Another girl grabbed his other arm and began pulling.

Sirius, truly wondering what was going on, stumbled up and began backing away from them.

But the worst was yet to come.

"Sirius Black!" Professor McGonagall called from the Head Table.  Professor Myter, who had to be eighty years old, beckoned him as well.

The male teachers all looked confused, but the females all looked very interested.

"He's mine!" the girl he didn't know was yelling, pulling on his arm again.

Lily had risen as well, and her eyes were blazing.  "Mine!  Sirius, say you'll marry me!"

Sirius shook her off and backed away again, this time bumping into the table behind him.  "What did you do, James?" he demanded, looking frantically at him, then Remus and Peter, who were just as confused.

So were most of the guys in the school.  

"What'd _you_ do?" Frank Longbottom demanded.  

Sirius suddenly realized that the girl who'd been attacking him was his girlfriend, of several months.  "I don't know!" he said.  "It was just supposed to make them fall in love with the first guy they heard after they took it."

James looked shocked.  "You mean recording your voice and making sure every girl in the school could hear it probably caused this?  Oh no, that's terrible.  Now every girl in the school is in love with you, Sirius.  And imagine how they'll feel tomorrow, when it wears off!"

He smiled cheerfully at Sirius.

"Sirius!" a Hufflepuff cried, then jumped across the table.

"Mr. Black," someone said, and Sirius saw Professor McGonagall standing behind him.  She had what he supposed could be a sexy smile on her face.

Sirius did the only thing a guy could do at a time like this.

He ran.

*         *         *

Lily followed along half-heartedly while the rest of the girls in the school raced after Sirius.  But she was looking more for James.  

She found him looking out the window and laughing as Sirius climbed a tree to escape his fans.

She looked out the window with him for a while and then looked at James.  He didn't notice for a few minutes, and then when he did, he looked at her curiously.  "Do I have something on my face?" he asked, a little nervous because of the intensity of her gaze.

She shook her head.  "No.  I was just thinking.  What are you doing on Friday night?"

His heart skipped a beat.  "Not much, why?"

"Well," she said slowly.  "I was looking for some company to sneak into Hogsmeade with.  You up for it?"

He looked at her curiously, wondering exactly how she meant that invitation.

She noticed his confusion and smiled.  "This should help explain things," she said, and leaned in and kissed him.

*         *         *

For weeks afterwards, it would be talked about.  How Sirius Black had been treed by his adoring fans, and then had his face plastered over the front of the school paper.

Of course, it turned out that Lily had organized all of the females of the school to drink some of the potion, listen to a magical recording of Sirius, and then attack him with adoration, as he seemed to think everyone wanted to do anyway.  The professors had been rather upset with Sirius's actions, especially when they had not been forewarned of what was coming, and while they still punished him with a week's worth of detentions, they decided he'd gotten what he deserved when he'd spent the night in the tree, and no points were deducted

An interesting development that occurred was that Lily and James did end up getting together, and were still going out regularly by the second to last week of school, the night of the June full moon.

 Remus had sat down with Lily and the rest of the Marauders and they had finally told her about everything, including that Remus was a werewolf, and they were all Animagi.  She was a little hurt because they hadn't told her before, but got over it quickly enough.

With the nights of the full moon one of the only exceptions, Lily and James spent as much time together as they could.

It was a Friday night, Lily and James were in the library, pretending to study while actually cuddling, in the farthest corner from the librarian.  It was nearing nine thirty, the time when James would leave her to go join the Marauders on their moonlit maraudering, when Peter ran into the library, ignoring the look the librarian gave him, and ran to the corner he knew Lily and James preferred.

They were in the middle of a deep kiss when he reached them, and his panicked voice drew them apart.  "Si-Sirius told Snape.  About Remus.  The Willow.  Now."

James stood up immediately, pulling Lily to her feet.  "Sirius told Snape about Remus?"

Peter wheezed.  "He told him. To go down.  The tunnel." 

James took off running, and Lily and Peter followed behind, Peter at a much slower pace.

By the time they reached the grounds, Lily could see that the tree had already been frozen, and the tunnel was already open.  She heard James yell something, but couldn't understand what he said.

Sirius was walking towards the tree from another direction, and he watched as James reached the Willow, just as the branches started to swing.

James ignored the branches and dove for the knot in the tree, then climbed down to the tunnel.

A loud roar came from somewhere deep within the tunnel, and Lily grabbed her wand, readying herself for anything.

Peter caught up with her, and began to pant even more, resting his hands on his knees and looking ready to keel over.

Minutes passed.  It seemed like an eternity.

A dark figure emerged from the tunnel, followed almost immediately by another figure that Lily recognized as James.  He rolled out of the way of the branches and hit the knot again to get the branches swinging and the tunnel to close up.

He was struck once by the branches, then fell to his knees on the grass, panting and trying to recover.  Lily rushed to his side, kneeling by him.  He sat up slowly, rubbing his head and slowly regaining his senses.

Severus was the other figure, and he was even paler than normal.  He glared at Sirius, and it was impossible to judge who was angrier.  "You knew he was like that," Severus hissed.  "I could have been killed."

"We aren't that lucky," Sirius said coldly.

James climbed to his feet, limped over to Sirius, and punched him.  Sirius stumbled back, his hand feeling the side of his face, where James had punched him.  "What were you thinking?" he raged.  "Do you have any idea what almost happened?  He could have died!  Remus could have killed him!  Or bitten him?  Do you ever stop to think about what might happen?"

Sirius stood up again, looking even angrier.  "It's his own fault if he wants to get killed.  He couldn't just let it be.  He's been after Remus since day one, and I finally gave him to him."

James swung his fist again to hit him, but Sirius was ready and blocked it.  He threw a punch of his own and caught James in the chin.

"You imbecile!" Severus hissed, standing himself.  "He's a werewolf! He shouldn't be allowed at this school anyway!"

James turned and punched Severus, who fell to the ground.  James glared at him, and of the three of them, he looked the most furious now.  "Shut up, Snape.  You don't know what you're talking about."

"He asked for it," Sirius said again.

James whirled around and tried to hit him again, but Sirius dove at him and knocked him down.

They fell in a flurry of fists, and Lily and Peter rushed over to pull them back.  "Sirius! James! Stop it!"  She jerked back on James' arm at the same time as he was about to block a punch from Sirius.

Sirius missed James and nailed Lily, who let out a cry of pain and stumbled back.

That stopped them both cold, and James glared at Sirius even as he went to Lily's side.  She pushed him back.  "That's enough," she said, her hand over her injured eye.  

Severus sneered at her.  "Perfect Lily Evans knew too?  When this gets out, it'll bring all of you down then, won't it?"

Lily sent him an icy look.  "Shut up, Severus.  I don't want to hear another word from any of you."  She looked at Peter, racking her brains for a solution, and finally found one.  It did not please her, and she had no doubt that it would please the rest of them any more.  "Go get Professor Dumbledore, Peter."

Sirius hissed.  "Don't.  It'll just cause more trouble."

"Oh, do," Severus sneered.  "I want to hear what he thinks of all this."

"I told you both to shut up," Lily snapped.  "Until you can behave like rational people, I mean it.  Peter, get moving."

Peter was still hesitating though.

But for once in her life, Lily was happy to hear a familiar voice that she normally loathed.

"Well," the voice said.  "What have we here?"

It was Filch.

*         *         *

Professor Dumbledore was more disappointed on that day than any of them could ever remember seeing.  In the end, he sent Lily and Peter back to their rooms with a simple recommendation that next time they get a teacher first.  He expressed his admiration over James' bravery, then suggested that he, too, find a teacher next time.

Because of the nature of the situation, he said, he would not be able to give him any points as reward.  James did not seem to care.  James had then been sent back.

Severus was informed that Remus' condition was known to the staff, and that, should word reach the rest of the students, he would be expelled, no matter how close to graduation he was.

He spent an hour talking with Sirius, and then assigned him two days suspension, and a month of discreet detentions.  He was also expected to write a formal apology to Severus.

And perhaps worst of all, he would be the one to explain to Remus exactly what happened.

Upon returning to his normal state in the morning, Remus returned to the room rather uneasily.  He knew from the shape of the room and vague memories that he'd spent a rough night, and was left to wonder why.

Sirius was awake when he got there, and explained in limited details what had happened.

But Remus got enough of the rest of the information from the stony look on James' face, the whiteness of Peter's, and the flatness of Sirius' voice to know that things were very bad.

It was the first time any of them had seen Remus so furious, and the first time he'd ever yelled at anyone for anything.

The three Marauders stopped speaking with Sirius, and the entire school noticed.  Lily, while she didn't claim to understand or agree with Sirius' motives, continued to speak with him and attempted to smooth things between them.

But the end of the school year came before that could happen.

It was the most boring Leaving Feast there had been since the year before the Marauders had arrived, and the only one who enjoyed the lack of excitement was Severus Snape, who knew exactly why there was no action.  

And he made sure to let Remus know it every chance he got.

It was the first time that there were no pranks pulled on anyone during the ceremony, and the first time that the Marauders were not the loudest group in the room.

The summer was the worst that any of them could remember, though it was especially bad for James.

Despite the comfort Lily could provide him, he still missed his best friend.

There was one person who had it worse though, and that was Sirius himself.  By the time his seventeenth birthday had arrived at the beginning of July, he was completely miserable.  He'd come to the conclusion that he'd screwed up early on, but it had been his pride that prevented him from apologizing.

But that had been then, and this was now, after a full month of not speaking to any of his best friends except Lily.

And she was a nice girl and all, but it was kind of hard to talk to her about anything, because she was James's girlfriend, and somehow her presence made Sirius miss James all that much more.

Miserable and bored, Sirius finally gave in.

On the fourth day of July, Sirius went over to see Remus.

They talked for several hours, but at the end of it, they were all right again, which made the burden Sirius felt lighten a little bit.

After that, Sirius went to see Peter, who was fine with him as long as the other two were fine with him.  That only took an hour, though they spent a lot of that time talking about the incredible defeat of England's Quidditch team by the Irish.

Last, Sirius went to see James.

Mrs. Potter obviously had figured out that something was wrong, because not only was this the first time he'd shown up at their house (which was a two minute walk from his), it was also the first time in more than fifteen years that he hadn't just walked right in and gone up to find James.

She gave him a warm hug and informed him that she was glad to see him, and that she'd love it if he could stay for dinner.  Then she told him that James was out back on the Quidditch pitch, and she'd call for him.

Sirius declined and went back to find him.

James was indeed on the pitch, buzzing around and throwing the Quaffle through the hoops with tired repetition.  He looked bored out of his mind, and very tired.  He threw the Quaffle through one of the hoops, then sped up to catch it again before throwing it once more.

Sirius remembered with some guilt that last night had been a full moon, and James and Peter had joined Remus for it.  Remus had suggested he, Sirius, deal with James before he joined them again.

That was probably why he was so tired.

Sirius grabbed a broom from the closet and flew up to join James, who threw the Quaffle one more time before looking at him.  "What are you doing here?" James asked somewhat crossly, flying down to the ground.

Sirius followed him and they landed as they'd done a hundred times before, and put their brooms back in the closet.  "I came to apologize," he said simply.  "I was a complete fool, and what I did was completely inexcusable.  I thought about it a lot, and I figured out that I was really wrong."

James snorted, apparently agreeing.  They walked back into the house and went down to the kitchens.  Sirius marveled at how wonderful it felt after having gone so long without even seeing James, and now they were back in their same pattern.  And he hadn't even finished apologizing yet!

James got a sandwich and chips from the House Elves and got Sirius's favorite as well.

They then walked back out to the patio.  As they did, Sirius continued.  "I talked to Remus and Pete already."

"So they said."

Sirius nodded a little, unsurprised to hear he already knew.  "Look," he said, stopping James by putting a hand on his shoulder.  James looked at him patiently.  "You know I'm not good with apologies.  I'm sorry, James.  I'll do anything to make up for it, but I know there's not a whole lot I can do.  This whole thing where you're not really speaking with me? It sucks.  I haven't spent a summer this boring since the year you went off to your Grandma's house and were gone for two weeks.  This is the worst summer of my life, and it's all my fault, and I want you to just forgive me so we can move on."

"You don't ask for much," James said, taking a seat at one of the tables on the patio.

Sirius sat across from him and considered this.  "Not really."

They ate in silence for a moment, then James sighed.  "You were incredibly stupid, Sirius.  And far beyond what I thought possible.  But fine, you're forgiven."  Sirius relaxed.

"That's all I wanted to hear," he said.

"Well, you're going to hear more," James said flatly.  "Remus is terrified that Severus'll slip to someone, even someone not in the school.  He thinks word'll get passed along until everyone knows anyhow.  Peter's terrified that now that Severus is forced to keep the secret, he's going to get beat up even more.  I'm scared stiff that you're going to get mad at him again and tell him the rest of our secrets too.  The Animagus thing being the most important, but there're other things too.  Think about it, Sirius.  We haven't exactly been good little boys while we've been at Hogwarts.  You have to learn to control your temper before something really bad happens."

Sirius nodded grimly.  "I know.  I don't know how much Lily's told you, but she's been coming by a lot, when she's not busy with you.  She already told me that's what you were angriest about."

James nodded.  He'd known that.

"Are we good?" Sirius asked finally.

James studied Sirius for a long time.  "I think so.  Want to call Remus and Peter and play Quidditch?"

And they did.

*         *         *

The end of summer was quickly approaching, and James had gathered his friends and girlfriend to his house for a week to celebrate the end of their last completely enjoyable summer.

It was a lovely day already, and they had all just sat down to breakfast when the owls arrived with the mail.  

Mr. Potter had his mail sent to his office, but there was still a lot of mail.  

Mrs. Potter collected the junk mail and incinerated it, then began sorting it out.  "Your school letters are here," she informed them.  "Here you are," she said, handing them out.

"Five Galleons say Lily's Head Girl," Sirius said immediately.

"I've already got ten on her," James said.  "And five on Murphy Warner for Head Boy."

Lily shot them both looks.  "Christie's got Head Girl," she said, but she'd already noticed her letter was much heavier than normal, and her palms were already sweating a little.

They all exchanged amused looks and looked over at Lily, waiting patiently for her to open hers, which she did.

She let out a joyful cry and James grinned, grabbed her, and kissed her congratulations.  The other boys offered their congratulations again and settled down once more.

Mrs. Potter chuckled a little when she saw Lily's expression.  "Does it say who the Head Boy is?  Murphy Warner's a nice boy.  He deserves it too, after losing his parents like that."

James made a noncommittal sound and opened his letter.  He frowned when he saw the badge drop out and onto his lap, then looked at it closer.  He said a word which made his mother turn and prepare to scold him, but the sheer shock on his face made her keep quiet.

Lily's mouth dropped open a little when she looked at it.  "You're Head Boy?"

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all looked at him and echoed her.  "You're Head Boy?"

Sirius stood up and went over and lifted the badge, inspecting it.  "No way," he said.  "There's got to be a mistake.  Is the letter addressed to you?  Maybe they just mis-marked it."

Lily had already thought of that and was reading his letter.  "'Dear Mr. Potter.  Congratulations.  You've been selected to fill the position of Head Boy this year.  Please find your badge enclosed.  You must arrive at Platform Nine and Three Quarters an hour before departure time in order to meet with the Head Girl and the other Prefects.  See the attached list for necessary supplies.  Congratulations again.  Professor M. McGonagall.'"

Sirius just sat back on his chair, shaking his head in amazement.

Remus was trying very hard not to laugh, and Peter looked bewildered.

Lily did laugh then and hugged him.  "Congratulations," she said happily.

James rested his head on the table, shaking his head a little.  "I'm never going to live down the shame."

Next and Last Chapter should come out tomorrow!

Feedback Me: zettazofia@yahoo.com

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	7. The Final Moments

The Marauder Story 

By Zetta Zofia

Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine!  Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.

Contact Me: zettazofia@yahoo.com

Find out all about me: http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=154516  
LAST CHAPTER!! :o) (This is of the good, since I've got at least eight other half finished stories I'm working on.)

Chapter Seven- The Final Moments 

Seventh year started with the traditional food fight.  

Of course, as it was Seventh year, Sirius felt that he needed to make a bigger spectacle of himself than normal.  He stood up on the bench.  "My fellow students, my dear professors, and even those who are not so dear.  I find myself feeling quite honored to be starting the traditional food fight this evening.  Even if James has to take points from me now, as Head Boy, I will still enjoy it."

Sniffing loudly, James stood on the bench next to him, and Remus and Peter across from them.  They all fake sobbed for a moment, and the rest of the students laughed.

McGonagall was standing up though, and Sirius knew they had to act quick.  He grabbed a bowl of mashed potatoes, and grinned at his friends.  "And now," he said.  "Let us initiate the new year by welcoming our dear Head Girl."

Lily, who was seated next to James, immediately started to get away, but the Marauders dumped the bowl on her head.

And she retailiated as expected and hoped for, dumping the pudding on Sirius and throwing turkey and corn at the other boys.

The food fight was a success, and there were only twenty points taken from Gryffindor for it.

Soon enough, the Marauders settled into the familiar routine of school, which seemed to be at the peak of its difficultness.  

With James as Head Boy, and Lily as Head Girl, the Marauders were forced to tone down their pranks a bit, and settled into pulling one good one a week, and on special occasions, they'd have a full day of little pranks.

The teachers dreaded those occasions.

The boy who'd roomed with them for all of a month of first year moved back in their dorm for a week, and then moved out again, going into the fifth year room with his younger brother.  The Marauders, once again, did not mind this at all, and celebrated his second departure by going to Hogsmeade.

On the less pleasant side of things, Voldemort, the evil wizard who'd been attacking people for over five years now (though the public had not learned about him until two or three years ago) had added more people to his list of allies.

The papers were filled with headlines told of the latest deaths and the latest crimes.  Pictures of the Dark Mark, the symbol left above houses Voldemort visited, covered the front page regularly.  

Not a few students learned of deaths in the family this way, the Mourner Owls that swept in daily coming in after the paper had been delivered.

No one looked forward to the mail.  Every day brought at least one owl carrying the black envelopes that told of a loved one's death.  

On one particularly bad day, there were four owls, each going to a different table.

Professor Dumbledore received Mourner Owls quite regularly, as he was an important figure and knew a lot of people who were active in politics.  

Even the Slytherins were not exempt from the horrors, and it was something of a shock to see Severus Snape get one in early November.  The Marauders found out later that it had been one of his uncles, but he'd been a Death Eater, or rather, a servant of Voldemort.

It was November when the Daily Prophet stopped using his name, and they began to call him You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.  The nicknames made the Marauders angry, and they wondered why it was that people were so afraid of a name that they would go to such extremes to avoid saying it. 

But within a month, everyone called him by such names, and the few who said his true name were glared at.

It disgusted James and his friends.

It was a rather cloudy day in January when Lily noticed that all four of the Marauders were missing.  Suspecting that they were up to no good, she went searching for them, and was shocked to find them in the library.

Because of the grim state of the world, they had been more subdued than ever before, but when she found them all quietly reading, her jaw dropped in surprise.  Even this was normally a raucous affair, with one of them stealing the other's books, someone else reading mostly out loud to annoy the others, and Remus trying to get them quiet so that he could read in peace. But there they sat, the four each in their own chairs, not speaking, not arguing, not pushing or shoving, just reading.

She stared at them for a few moments, and then continued inside, going over and taking a seat at the table with them.  She and James exchanged a quick kiss, and then he went back to reading, though they held hands.

"Hey Lil," Remus said, marking the page in his book and slipping off his glasses.  "I thought you had to study for Transfiguration?"

Lily made a face at him.  "If I ever get near that book again, I think I'll scream bloody murder."  She picked up one of the books they'd stacked on the table between them.  "_Dark Lords and Dark Powers_.  _Dark Spells_.  _The Basic Steps to Dark Arts_."  She set them down again.  "You sneak in the Restricted Section, or is there a reason for reading up on the dark arts?"

James glanced at the others, slipped his glasses off and set his book on the table.  He took her hand, a sure sign that something was coming that she probably wouldn't like.  "We decided that if there's some kind of Dark Wizard out there, we should figure out what it's all about, so if he comes by again..."

Lily raised an eyebrow.  "You can get killed fighting him?" 

Sirius didn't look up from his book.  "We had a long talk about it last night, after Jess got that Mourner about her parents and sister."  Jess was Sirius's latest girlfriend, a Hufflepuff who was surprisingly bright.  "This guy's scary.  Jim's dad told us that they think he's the one who's been killing people for the past few months.  The Aurors are always looking for new recruits, and we'll be out of Hogwarts shortly."

"So you're all signing up?" she asked, looking at each of them, and then especially at James.

Remus shook his head, drawing her attention.  "They won't take me because of my condition.  Peter's had a job offer elsewhere, at the Ministry, so he'll be going there.  James and Sirius are looking into it."

She looked at James then, found him watching her still.  He was drumming his fingertips on the table and he stopped when she spoke to him.  "Do you even know how many Aurors there are that get killed?  How few of them live past twenty five?"

"Yes," he answered.  "It was one of the first things we looked at."  He pointed towards a thick book on the shelf behind her, titled _MAGIC: Career Statistics_.  "There are a lot of deaths, and a short life expectancy.  Which is why we're starting now, so that by the time we're Aurors, we'll outlive all the others."

She nodded once.  "I thought you were going into the Ministry, like your dad."

James put his glasses on again.  "I've considered it.  I haven't completely decided one way or the other though, which is why I hadn't talked about it with you.  Sirius wanted us to help him check it out for himself."  

She sighed and leaned against him.  "I just don't want you to end up dead," she said.  She reached out and grabbed Sirius's hand.  "Any of you."

James kissed the top of her head.  "Don't worry so much.  And you'll know what I decide even before Sirius."

Sirius frowned and stuck his tongue out at Lily.

She bit back a sigh.  And _he_ thought he was going to be an Auror?

*              *                *

Not even a week after that, James had his world torn apart.

They were in Transfiguration, discussing how certain transfigurations were easier and others were more difficult.  Professor McGonagall was leading the class in an active discussion.  Lily and James were seated next to each other, holding hands.  Lily was writing notes constantly, but James was relaxed and contributing to the discussion with ease.  Transfiguration was, of course, his favorite subject.  He wondered what McGonagall would think if she knew he was an Animagus as well, and everything she was lecturing them on was beyond easy for him to do anymore.

Sirius was sharing his thoughts on the subject of human transfigurations when the door flew open and a short little girl ran in, her eyes wide.  "Oh, Professor! Professor McGonagall!  Oh, it's really, really important!"

James recognized her as being a first year Gryffindor, and wondered what she was about.  Lily finished writing her notes and used the opportunity to smile at him, and he smiled back before returning his attention to the front of the room.

Professor McGonagall was not pleased to be interrupted.  "What is it?" she asked sharply.

"It's really bad!" she exclaimed.  "Professor Dumbledore wants to go down to the office.  He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked again!  Minister Potter was murdered!"

James bolted upright in his chair, growing pale.  "What?"

Murmurs rose throughout the room, with most of the other students knowing about James's relationship with the Minister.

The girl obviously didn't know though, and turned to look at him, thinking he was just a curious classmate.  "Yep," she said, her eyes wide.  "They went to his house and killed him and his wife.  I heard Professor Dumbledore talking about it, and he asked me to get the Professor."

James was frozen for a moment, but recovered quickly and jumped up and ran out of the room.  Lily and Sirius followed immediately, and they all ran to Dumbledore's office.

He was coming out as they reached him, and his expression upon seeing James said everything.

James stopped cold when he saw the professor shaking his head.  "I'm sorry, James," he said.  

Lily took his hand, and Sirius put his hand on his shoulder.  

"My mum?" he asked quietly.

Professor Dumbledore shook his head.  "She was killed as well."

*              *                *

The funeral included hundreds of common witches and wizards, dozens of foreign representatives, and dozens of other politicians.  James, accompanied by Lily, Sirius, and his two aunts, one from each side, led the procession from the location of the visitation to the small cemetery located on the farthest back corner of the Potter property.  Buried in it were the bodies of generations of the family, and only their closest friends and family.

He had been killed by the Killing Curse.  A dozen Death Eaters and the man who was rumored to be Lord Voldemort himself led the attack, and aside from just the Potters, there were four House Elves and two visiting politicians killed.  At least eight more House Elves had been wounded, and no one was sure if one of them would make it or not.

*              *                *

Upon returning to school a week after the funeral, James was much quieter.

After two full months had passed, he still hadn't regained all of his cheer, but he was doing much better, and his friends held high hopes that he would be back to normal- or at least mostly- by the end of the year.  If nothing else, they hoped, he wouldn't do anything drastic during his grieving.

The weekends were filled with trips to Hogsmeade, the weekdays filled with cramming for the NEWTs.  It left little time for just sitting and contemplating things, so it seemed to all of the Marauders that time was flying by.  Before they knew it, the NEWTs were over, and there were only two weeks left of school.  The seventh years were allowed the extra week of freedom because they'd just finished the most difficult exams of their lives, and they used that time to their advantage, relaxing and enjoying their last days of school.

It was the first Monday they had off that James dragged Sirius, Remus, and Peter off to Hogsmeade.

As they sat in the Three Broomsticks, James tried to figure out how to tell them his news.  

Sirius was involved in reading about the professional Quidditch games, Remus and Peter were discussing the quality of the Butterbeer, and he was sitting there watching all of it with a little bit of unease.

Finally, he decided to just blurt it out during a pause in conversation.

"I'm going to ask Lily to marry me."

Sirius dropped the paper and Remus and Peter turned to look at him.  "Wow," Sirius said slowly.  "Do I get to be best man?"

"No, I was going to ask Severus.  Of course you are, you dumb git."  James rolled his eyes, clearly beyond the point where they could tease him and he would find any humor in it.  

They did anyway.

"Why would she say yes?" Peter wondered, hiding his amusement.

James glared at him.  "You're not helping."

Remus snorted.  "I can't exactly argue with that, Potter.  Why in Merlin's name would she ever even think about it?"

James shifted, and started worrying.

Sirius saw the expression and groaned.  "You're no fun to tease when you're being serious," he complained.

"He's not serious," Remus said lightly.  "You are."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at him.  "Sod off."

James pulled out the ring he'd bought earlier in the day when they'd been at Zonko's.  He set it on the table, and Sirius took it.  "Oh, James, you shouldn't have," he said in as much of a girly voice as he could manage.  Remus and Peter snickered, but James was not amused.  Sirius opened the box and let out a whistle, his eyes widening slightly.  "Okay, that's why she'll marry you."

"Let me see," Peter said, and took the box.  His eyes grew wide.  "Holy macaroni."

Remus took the box from him and nodded.  "Nice.  Must have cost you a fortune."

James shook his head, taking the ring back.  "Mum set aside a bunch of money before she died, just so that I could do something like this for her.  Or whoever it would be," he added, a little bit sadly.  "She always used to tell me that the whole wedding thing was a big deal for girls, so I'd better do it right or she'd come after me."  He smiled bitterly.  "I've sincerely debated grabbing Lily and marrying her in some run down old church, with no one to see it all, just to see if it was true."

Sirius sighed sadly.  He missed Mrs. Potter too, though he knew how he felt was nothing in comparison to how James felt.  "I think she'd be happier to see it done this way.  I guess the next question is... Are you sure you want to give up all this fun bachelorhood?"

James snorted.  "If I never have to go on another date it'll be too soon.  It's different with Lily.  It always has been." He shrugged.  "I've been ready for a long time, and this so called 'fun' I've been having can end at any time."

Remus, Peter, and Sirius all gave him a long look.

James rolled his eyes.  "I'm not saying that it's going to happen the day we get out of Hogwarts.  I was told it would take at least a year to completely plan out the wedding and all that other stuff.  And I know Lily isn't going to want to just run off with me either.  A while ago she said she'd always wanted a big wedding, so I've an entire year before we'll be married.  And she might say no, just because we're too young."  He scowled at the thought.  

Remus frowned.  "Then why are you asking now?"

James met his stare.  "Because I love her, and I don't want to risk losing her.  If she's got a ring on her finger, whether it's signifying marriage or just an engagement, it's one more thing holding us together.  You have no idea how terrified I am that something will happen once we're out of Hogwarts, and we'll lose each other.  Be it Voldemort, or just moving on with our lives, or her family, any of the other million things it could be."

Sirius faked a sniff.  "It's so touching."

James reached over and cuffed him, then sat back and watched as Sirius scowled at him.  He gave them a crooked smile and shrugged a bit. "Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit of a sap.  But it's the truth."

Remus sighed.  "Well," he said.  "For what it counts, I think she'll say yes.  And I think you two are wonderful together."

"But you're gonna lose the bet about who gets married first," Peter said cheerfully.  "Five Galleons to each of us."

James grinned.  "Happily paid."

*              *                *

He asked her the next night, under the soft light of an almost full moon.  They were sitting out by the lake, having just finished a picnic.

He'd bungled the proposal of course.  He had written it out then practiced it over and over again until he'd memorized it.  But when it came time to actually ask her, it all flew out of his mind, and he ended up making it a lot simpler. 

They looked up at the stars, and she was tracing her finger along the outline of a constellation.  He watched her closely.  "Will you marry me Lily?"

The smile she gave was soft, sweet, and loving, and her reply was the same.  "I will."

*              *                *

At graduation, James and Lily were called upon to make a speech to their fellow classmates.

James listened as Lily spoke, her speech poetic and beautiful.  She received a standing ovation when she was done, and James kissed her as she took her seat.  

Then he went up to the podium.  He smiled out at the rest of the class, who sat in neat rows before him.  "Lily's pretty much covered it all," he said, choosing to ignore his written and give an impromptu speech.  It had worked the last time he'd had something important to say, so why not try it again?  "So I'll keep it short and simple.  These have been seven wonderful years.  I can't say it was all fun and games, but for the most part, it truly was good.  There were a lot of classes I could have cheerfully skipped..." He paused, considering.  "Though I guess I did skip most of them, so never mind that." There were a few chuckles and he continued.  

"The important thing is this.  We have our whole lives left now.  Whatever rivalries we've had, well, they don't mean much now, despite our enthusiasm for them during our time here.  It's going to be what we do with ourselves that counts now, and while I have to say I fear for certain individuals, specifically speaking Sirius and a few other wayward Gryffindors-"  There was a loud cheer from that section, and Remus and Peter waved.  "I think we've got ourselves a pretty good group, and it wouldn't much surprise me to read about some of you in the years to come as being the brightest and best of the world."

He shrugged a little.  "So, before I tell everyone to go off and have a nice life, I've got one more thing to say, that should come as no surprise to anyone who's been in this school for the past year or so.  Lily and I are getting married next year, in February.  And no, you're not invited."

*              *                *

"That was the most horrible speech I've ever heard," Lily told James cheerfully.  "I can't believe you said any of it, especially that last bit."

James kissed her.  "Well," he said.  "I had one all written out, but then I decided it was boring.  And this way, I got to tell everyone, and that makes me happy.  Now if they all decide they want you, they can't say they didn't know that I had you first.  And besides, I don't want most of those gits at our wedding."

She kissed him again, her eyes shining.  "Freak."

"I love you too," he said, laughing.

Sirius sighed.  "Okay, love birds.  That's enough.  I want to go through and take a walk around before we leave, you know, just to remember."

James took Lily's hand.  "Can you believe we're leaving?" he mused.  "Seems like yesterday we just got here."

Remus sighed as they walked along the lake.  "It does, doesn't it?" 

Peter looked around.  "I'm gonna miss this place."

"We all are," Lily mused.

They were near the Whomping Willow now, and Remus snorted.  "Parts of it anyway."

"Oh, come on," Sirius protested.  "Parts of even that was fun."

He glanced around to be sure no one was watching and then changed into his Animagus form.  He wagged his tail happily and he nudged Remus's hand before he ran over to the tree, barking once at it, and staying just out of reach of the swaying branches.

"Honestly," James muttered.  "You'd think he were two years old."

Lily laughed.  "You want to join him?"

He grinned at her, then changed forms.

Peter followed suit, and Remus and Lily walked over to the tree with them.

The three Animagi played for a few minutes, the Lily and Remus started walking.

The other three caught up again shortly.

"Remember back in second year," Peter said.  "When we first found out about Remus?"

Sirius grunted.  "I prefer fourth year, when we were still immature enough to blow up cauldrons all the time."

They all gave him a look.  "We did that three weeks ago, Padfoot," Remus reminded him.  "Not years, weeks."

Sirius shrugged, grinning wryly.  "It must just seem like forever ago."

They walked around the rest of the way, remembering everything.  By the time they'd reached their starting point, students were starting down towards the carriages to catch the train home.

"Our last time," Lily said wistfully, hugging James. 

"Then let's make it our best time," James said optimistically, taking her hand.  "If we're leaving, we're leaving in style."

"Amen," Remus agreed, nodding.

Sirius nodded.  "I'm for it."

"Me too," Peter agreed.

Lily smiled and let James pull her forward.

They walked away from the school for the last time, four grown wizards and a witch, ready for the world.

The End!

Eeep! I'm done!  What do you think?! Tell me!  TELL ME!!!!!!!!  
Note to self: Do not drink Code Red at this time of morning.  It's NOT GOOD!

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